


Flowers & Freckles

by Selmis



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alex is just alex, Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Demisexual John, Flowers, Fluff, Henry Laurens' A+ Parenting, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, SO MUCH FLUFF, alex is afraid of storms like always, and good at comforting, angelica is a BAMF, angst in later chapters, eliza is a cinnamonroll, john is really shy, john is sunshine, oh yeah john is vegetarian, please read the first note, this is my very first fan fiction so BE SWEET THX
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-19
Updated: 2017-09-30
Packaged: 2018-10-20 23:21:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 25,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10672890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Selmis/pseuds/Selmis
Summary: Alex meets the shy, cute boy, John, at a tiny flower shop.Where Alex improvises and is loud, John is thoughtful and quiet.Where Alex attracts attention, John is observant.Where Alex is forward and honest, John is gentle and careful.They complete each other, and Alex wants to spend every second of his life with John.*UPDATES ONCE A WEEK*And would appreciate it, if you would read the first note :)





	1. Curls

**Author's Note:**

> *PLEASE READ*
> 
> Hello, my name is Selma. I've been a fangirl for a couple of years now but this is the first time I've ever tried writing a fan fiction.
> 
> SO. I'm from Denmark which means that MY ENGLISH MIGHT NOT BE THE BEST. But I am on top of my English class, and if there should be some grammatical errors i hope you can oversee them :)
> 
> thank you a lot for reading! Please comment to tell me how i did! Dont be afraid to be critical (as long as long as you are not hating or smth ill be fine)
> 
> Again thank you for reading! It means lot to me! <3
> 
> Tumblr: selmiserables

Screw Martha. Screw George. Screw Lafayette. And screw Alex and his goddamn big mouth. 

The Washington’s had been so nice to invite Alex over for dinner one evening. It was supposed to be a normal, friendly dinner with the pair that had always been like a mother and father for him. But naturally, when Alex was there, it didn’t go that way. Alex had gotten all heated in this argument about death penalty. It had started pretty innocent, but had ended with Alex standing up from his chair, accidentally knocking one of Martha’s porcelain plates of the table and startling her.  
Alex had, of course, apologized, but when he got home and explained the situation to his roommates, Hercules and Lafayette, Lafayette had insisted on him buying Martha a pretty bouquet of flowers as a formal apology, both for the plate, and for his behavior. 

So here he was, on his way to this little flower shop, that Eliza had recommended, when he should have been on his way home. And who was to blame? Himself.

He was so deep in thought that he almost walked past it, which wasn´t unusual for Alexander Hamilton.

He had to admit, the shop looked really nice. When he looked through the windows, it had kind of a cozy, golden glow. He opened the door and a mild, sweet smell of flowers hit him. It wasn’t strong and sickening like it often could be, but soft, and light. The shop was small, and crowded with flowers. It had a wooden design, which looked absolutely _lovely._

A boy stood at the counter, and he immediately caught Alex´s eye. He had beautiful, dark curls falling on to his shoulders, framing his face perfectly. Talking about his face, his eyes were a beautiful hazel green, tanned skin splattered with freckles, oh, those beautiful freckles.  
“Hello, my name is John,” The boy, John, said.

 _And I am questioning my sexuality,_ Alex thought, thankfully, didn’t say it aloud. 

“Can I help you with something?” 

“Uhm…” Alex was dumbstruck for a moment, “yes, hi, I would like to buy some flowers?”

“I figured that much,” John chuckled.

“Of course,” Alex laughed awkwardly. He couldn’t believe that this pretty, gorgeous, boy stood in front of him. “I´ll need a bouquet, something to apologies with.”

“Ooh, what did you do?” John asked with a playful smirk.

Alex rubbed his neck, “eh, I was at my fake-parents´ house for dinner, and broke a plate. I may have yelled a little as well.”  
“O-kay,” John looked at him skeptical, but didn’t ask further questions, “so what exactly are you looking for? Colors? Something big? Classic?”

“I really don’t have much experience with buying flowers, but something classic I think? Something that fits into an old house.”

“I know exactly what you need.” John started walking around, picking different flowers from all the vases, that were placed around. When he had gotten a decent armful, he walked pack to the counter, found a scissor, and started trimming the stems. 

“How old are you John?” Alex tried to start a conversation with this boy he was aching to know more about.

“19, why?”

“I have never seen you before. I mean, New York is a pretty big city, but I often come in this part of the city, it´s not far from campus, you know? I go to Columbia. I mean, there is lots of other colleges in NY, but not that close to here.” Alex was rambling. 

”Uhm, yeah, well… I don´t go to college…” John looked down and avoided eye contact. He looked both uncomfortable and embarrassed by the subject.

“That’s probably why I haven’t seen you!” Alex sensed Johns uncomfortableness and changed the subject. “Have you always lived in New York?”

John looked thankful for the change of subject and answered, “No, I actually moved here from South Carolina a year ago, when I graduated from high school.”

“So did I! Or, well, not from South Carolina, I moved here from the Caribbean.” Now it was Alex turn to be uncomfortable. He didn’t like to talk about his past, especially not to a stranger, especially not to a stranger this cute, who he might be slowly building a crush on. 

“My mother was Spanish,” John said, “She died when I was 15,” John said it as nonchalantly as possible, but Alex still sensed the sadness.

“My mom is also dead. She died when I was 12, so it’s long ago. I turned twenty in January, two months ago.” John smiled and nodded, “I’m turning twenty in October.”

Alex and John continued to small talk even after John was done with the bouquet. They just clicked together, Alex quickly grew fond of this boy. They first stopped talking when another costumer walked in, and the bell over the door rang.

“I should probably get going,” Alex said.

“Yeah. Do you want a card with the flowers?” John found a light green card from one of the drawers.

“Yes, thank you very much.”

“What do you want me to write?”

“Could you write: ‘Dear Martha. I sincerely apologize for my behavior the other day. I hope you will accept these flowers and be forgiving.’ That good?” Alex knew it wasn’t anything original, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. John, who had been writing it down, while Alex talked, just shrugged, “sure.”

John passed the flowers over the counter to Alex. Alex took them and gave John a couple of dollar bills in return. Still Alex hesitated to leave. John smiled at him shyly and hesitantly leaned over the counter tugged a lock of Alex’ hair behind his ear. “Good luck with your apology,” John said with the same shy smile.

“Yeah…” Alex looked at john, who was still too embarrassed to look up at Alex, and didn’t leave until the costumer behind him cleared his throat. Alex was pulled out of his daze, muttered a quick thank you for the bouquet and walked out of the little flower shop. The fresh spring air hit him in the face with a cool breeze. He took a deep breath and walked to the nearest subway so he could get to the Washington’s as fast as possible.

But still he couldn’t get the pretty, freckled boy out of his head.

_I wonder if he is single,_ Alex thought, _wait what Alex? You don’t even know him! He is probably straight. Or a Trump supporter._ But Alex had it bad. For a guy he had just met, and talked to for maybe half an hour. But there was just so much more Alex wanted to know about this boy.  
Like, why didn’t he go to college? Why had he moved to New York if he hadn’t gotten in to college? Had he moved here with his family?

____

____

One thing Alex was completely sure of. 

This wasn’t the last he had seen of this boy.


	2. Struck to the Bone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex complains about his problems to his roommates

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haVE A qUEStiON!
> 
> So, i was writing their date (yes, ofc there will be a date) and everything just went perfect. words flooded out of me and was just in a flow, it was perfect. BUT THEN. Can someone please tell me how old you have to be to get wine on restaurants in usa? bc in Denmark you have to be 16/18 and since that is just how it is in my everyday i didn't even think about that you maybe have to be 21 in America. And if it is like that, then i will have to rewrite THE WHOLE THING. which i don't want to. wow. who would have thought that wine was so important for the plot?
> 
> Anyways, here is the next chapter, hope you enjoy!

“ _Mon ami,_ what is wrong with you? You’ve been acting weird all day.”

 Of course Alex’ roommates had noticed his change in conduct. He hadn’t been home till late the day before, where he had met the freckled beauty.

 Alex sighed dramatically, “I’m in love, Laf.”

 “In love? With whom, may I ask?”

 “Not anyone you know. His name is John, and he was working at that little flower shop, I was at yesterday. And, well, maybe I’m not _in love,_ per se, but, _god,_ Laf, you should have seen him! He was so _cute._ ” And then Alex started rambling about everything about John. “I don’t know Laf, I just can’t stop thinking about him!”

 “So, you are, how you say, _struck to the bone_?”

 Lafayette, Alex’ roommate, had moved to America from France in the beginning of their freshman year of college. He couldn’t speak English when he first came here, so Alex, who was fluent in French, said that he would gladly teach him. It had led to a strong friendship.

Laf was also, probably, the tallest person Alex had ever met. He had mocha skin, a giant smile that seemed to never leave his face, and big hair that he always had up in a high ponytail.

 Lafayette said, that he was of French nobility and had quite the fortune. He was also the reason, they had gotten an apartment away from campus.

“ _You know perfectly well how to say that, you French fucker!”_

Hercules, their other roommate, had probably been Alex first friend after he had moved to America. He was a tailor, and pretty talented, if you asked… anyone in general.

He was, tall – not as tall as Lafayette, though, - he had dark skin, was big and muscular. All in all, he looked pretty intimidating. But that was only on the outside. Everyone, who had spent just 5 minutes with him, would know, he would never hurt so much as a fly, and was probably the gentlest human being on earth.

“Whatever, whatever,” Lafayette waved a hand in the air, dismissively.

 “What are you two talking about, anyway?” Hercules asked, interested in their conversation now.

 “Oooh, yes! You haven’t heard? Alex is in love! With a boy he just met!”

“Oh, shut up Laf!” Alex blushed, embarrassed.

 “Is that so? Who’s the lucky one?”  
  
“His name is John, he works at that flower shop. But I don’t even know his last name. I don’t even know if he is _gay._ Or _single._ ”

“A true tragedy, man. What’s for dinner?” Herc looked in the fridge to see if there were any leftovers they could eat. He was always more interested in food.

“It’s your turn to cook, _mon cher._ But I’m voting takeout!”

“I’m on that,” Alex piped in, “what kind?”

“Hmm,” Lafayette touched his chin, pretending to think, “how about… PIZZA! Heh he he heeeh.”

It was no secret that Laf was a slut for pizza. Herc was more the burger type, Alex settled for anything spicy.

“As much as I love pizza,” Herc started, “We’ve gotten that the last three times, we ordered fast food.” Lafayette pouted.

 “How about Indian then?”

 “Sure.”

 “Fiiiiiiiine.” Laf rolled his eyes.

 As they sat around the table, Alex still thought about John, because, apparently, it wasn’t possible for him to keep the godlike flower prince out of his head more than five minutes at a time.

He needed to do something about it, he was not going to Burr his way on this, and _wait_ for John to come his way, no, Alex would rather die, than see himself start acting like Burr. No matter what, Alex wanted John in his presence, whether it was as lovers or just friends, and he had to do something before his feelings got too bad. If he asked the boy out next time they met, and he got a no, they could still be friends without it getting too awkward and a heartbreak, however, if he got a _yes,_ they could be the cutest couple in town, and Alex might have found the one, he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. He was hoping for the latter.

 

 _Tomorrow,_ Alex thought, _I’ll visit the shop and ask him out._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that this chapter was a little short, but the next one will be a lot longer!


	3. Sunflowers are the best kind of flowers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am honestly pretty satisfied with this chapter. If you notice any errors please tell me so i can correct them!  
> Also, chapter titles are /hard/ to come up with

Alex woke up Saturday morning, 9 am, with the best feeling. He felt confident, there was no way he was gonna screw this up, and for the first time in his life probably, he had gotten all 9 hours of sleep. He started the day with his special black coffee (which was, in fact, just black coffee) and a piece of toast, that Hercules had been so kind to make him. Now he was walking, the cool March air giving him a fresh spark of energy and enthusiasm.

It wasn’t until he was standing right outside the shop that his anxiety kicked in.

 _Jesus, what am I doing? He’s straight. He’s in a relationship. Even though he isn’t any of those he can’t be interested in someone like **me**_ , _for God’s sake! It was stupid of me coming here, I should just leave now.  It’s not even sure he is in today, I can’t expect him to work every day. Especially not in the weekend. He is just some boy I met in a shop, and what was his name again? Jack? What was his surname? I don’t even know._

Alex stood and debated himself whether or whether not he should just go home. It wasn’t until he saw a boy figure handling a big -  that was an understatement -  _giant,_ bouquet of sunflowers in the shop-window and was reminded just how god-gorgeous that boy was, he decided to go for it.

Alex took a deep breath, and walked in. The little bell rang above his head. John was back at the counter and his smile lit up the whole room when he saw Alex. That sight itself was all the trouble worth it, Alex decided and shot John a shy smile. John seemed to notice that he had shown a little too much enthusiasm by seeing this stranger walk inside of his store and blushed and looked down.

“Hi.”

“Hi…”

Alex didn’t really know what he had expected, when he thought this through, which he actually hadn’t. It seemed kinda silly to him now, because what had he expected? That he could just fall on one knee and express his undying love, which was an exaggeration, he didn’t have any ‘undying love’ for John, just a stupid crush, which just made this whole thing even _more_ silly!

“So, what kind of trouble did you get in today?” John asked playfully, and first now Alex noticed, that John hadn’t worn his hair down today but in a French braid with _flowers_ braided in.

_Maybe he is gay after all. Not that you can judge by look of course, god Alex, how stupid can you be?_

Alex hadn’t noticed how long he had just been standing there until now. He wasn’t gonna ask John out, he had to find some kind of excuse. But what could he say? He just said the first thing that came to mind: “Actually, I came here to by flowers for someone I like.”

“Oh.”

Bad choice Alex. Really, _really_ bad choice. Alex mentally hit himself. And was that disappointment in John’s voice? He actually looked sad.

“So, what kind of flowers?”

“Uhm,” what was Alex gonna do? He decided to just go with it, he couldn’t just confess his lie, “what do you think? The flowers you gave me yesterday was perfect, I trust your judgment more than my own.” John seemed to lighten up a little at those words, and actually got a faint blush? Alex had never met anyone who blushed as easily as John and he just found it _too damn cute._

“well, my _personal_ favorite is definitely sunflowers, but those are not for everyone.”

“Sunflowers sounds just right,” Alex smiled.

“I’ll just go find them,” John smiled, and walked over to the massive bouquet Alex had seen him fumbling with earlier.

“How many do you want?” The shop was small, and there wasn’t anyone in besides them, so John didn’t really have to raise his voice, but it just seemed more natural like that.

“Enough for it to look big and rich. I don’t know how many you normally use for that.”

“It depends, do you want any kind of leafs to fill in?”

“Nope, just the flowers.”

John picked twelve of the biggest and brightest ones and brought them to the desk for trimming just like he had yesterday.

“Who’s the special someone, then?” John asked without looking up. “If you don’t mind me asking, of course,” He added.

“No, it’s fine, it’s just… someone I met…” Alex lied.

John nodded and wrapped the stalks in light brown paper. Was it just Alex, or was he doing it somewhat aggressively? “Do you want a card?” John asked.

“Do you have something that just says, ‘will you go out with me’?”

“Sure.”

John attached the card and Alex slid the money over the counter, “keep the change.”

In exchange John passed Alex the bouquet, “good luck,” he said and smiled. “Thank you, I’ll need it,” Alex answered as he took the flowers, but instead of saying goodbye and walking out of the shop, he passed the bouquet right back over to John.

John looked mildly confused, and Alex motioned for him to take it. John hesitantly took the flowers and frowned, “Is something wrong? You don’t want it anyway?”

“It’s for you,” Alex said.

“F-for me?” John seemed very confused and surprised.

Alex suddenly became very embarrassed of his actions. _What the **fuck** Alex?! What are you thinking? You just met him, idiot, now you’ve ruined everything! _“I- I mean- that was very stupid of me, you don’t know me, you’re straight--“

“-Did you just assume my sexuality? That seems slightly offensive.” John had a humored expression, and to be honest Alex didn’t blame him, ‘cause it must have been quite the sight, seeing Alex rambling and stuttering as much as he did.

Alex had stopped talking mid-sentence, and now just stood there with mouth agape. John shifted awkwardly and cleared his throat, pulling Alex back to reality.

“So you are gay?”

“Very much, yes”

“Well, will you go on a date with me then?” John blushed, and Alex could see that he was trying to hold back a smile – and failing very much.

“Yes, I would like that very much,” John answered, “but, you do realize that you have never told me your name, right?”

Alex covered his face with his hand, “God, you’re right. My name is Alexander Hamilton. People who are close to me call me Alex.”

“Okay, Alexander. Now that I know your name, I look forward to our date.”

“Me too! Here, we should exchange numbers.” Alex reached down in his pocket for his phone, and noticed that John was still standing with the bouquet, “Uhm, do you have a place to put the flowers?”

“Well, this is a flower shop, I think I can figure something out,” John said teasing.

“Of course.”

John quickly found a fitting vase for the flowers, and Alex unlocked his phone, and gave it to John who gladly typed his number in.

“I’ll text you. See you around John.”

“See you around, Alexander.”

Alex left the flower shop happy. He had gotten Johns number and a _date._ He felt like skipping home, that happy was he. He didn’t skip, though, he walked with newfound energy and a smile which made people look weirdly at him. _Why is everyone looking so much?_ Alex thought, _can’t a human just be happy nowadays without it being strange and attracting attention?_ But Alex didn’t really care about the looks he was given. He was happy, and in his good right to be so, and was _not_ about to let some jealous people drag him down.

He took his phone out to text John and smiled even more as he saw that he had saved himself as “John <33”. He quickly shot of a text:

 

**To John <33**

Hey, Its Alexander

 

He wanted to write a witty comment or joke, but his brain seemed to be betraying him. And this was fine, it wasn’t because john was going to get disappointed or anything. This was the absolute best day in Alex’s life.

 

Meanwhile, John was worrying himself to death. _Oh God, I shouldn’t have put that heart after my name. he will think it was too soon, it **is** too soon, I’m so stupid. Okay John, calm down, you are overreacting. _

This was actually Johns first date with a boy after he came out of the closet. He had kissed boys before, but it had mostly been others who were experimenting with their sexuality. John had never needed to experiment, he had always known that he was gay, he just wished he had grown up in a more accepting community. People were small minded in South Carolina, and his dad was the Senator. He was stuck in the closet, afraid of the consequences that would be if he came out and in his good right to be so. His father had often told him about the sin of a man laying with another man, and that there was a special place in Hell for them. For a while John actually believed he was sick, and considered coming out to his father so they could find a cure, but as he came older he discovered that there was absolutely nothing wrong with him, and that it was his father who needed help.

But John didn’t like to think about that, he had moved to New York to be a new, proud, gay man.

So yes, John was very nervous, because even though Alexander had caught Johns eye as soon as he walked in the store, John knew nothing about the guy and hadn’t even known his name until 20 minutes ago. But John was very optimistic of nature and chose to think the best of it. He didn’t get time to think much good of it though, before his phone plinged with a message.

 

**From Unknown**

Hey, its Alexander

 

John saved his number before answering:

**From John <33**

Hello stranger ;)

 

**From Alexander**

Are you free tonight?

  

**From John <33**

Eager, are we? ;))

 

John couldn’t resist teasing a lil bit. He actually didn’t quite understand. He was normally _extremely_ shy around people. But the very first time Alexander had walked in, it felt nothing like with the other costumers. He would just say the basic sentences, always politer, and never seek for a longer conversation. But something had drawn him to Alexander. He didn’t know what, or why, but for some reason he wanted this guy to stay, to like John, to talk with him. And it also wasn’t hard for him to start a conversation. It just happened. He just said what he felt like, like if they had been friends forever. And he had gotten exactly what he wanted. 

 

**From Alexander**

Maybe just a little :)

I just can’t wait to see those cute freckles again

 

John could feel the blush. It wasn’t fair, why did he always have to blush?

  

**From John <33**

I am free tonight I get off at 3 pm

 

**From Alexander**

Great! I know a restaurant do you want to meet me there at 6?

Ill text you the address!

  

**From John <33**

Sounds perfect.

 

 

Alex had now reached his apartment and neither Laf nor Hercules was home.

  

**To: Those two**

**From Pocahamilton**

Where are you guys???

  

**From Lafrench**

Ah we went out

  

**From Pocahamilton**

Why? Where?

 

**From Greek God**

Jeez, all these questions

We r @ the Schuylers

How did ur mission go?

 

**From Pocahamilton**

I am not answering you until you start texting normally.

And when you say at the Schuylers do you mean their apartment or restaurant?

 

 

The Schuyler sisters, Angelica, Eliza and Peggy, ‘s parents had started a restaurant called “The Garden”. Philip Schuyler had had a short career within politics but had dropped when his wife had gotten pregnant. Together they had started the Garden. It had started out as a small cozy restaurant with all the herbs coming from Ms. Schuylers kitchen garden. That’s where the name came from. But of course, as the Garden grew bigger, and the couple got Eliza and Peggy, they had to drop it but kept the name. They all worked there, Angelica, Eliza and Peggy took shifts as waiters, Mr. Schuyler stood for the accountings and economy while Ms. Schuyler was the head chef. Now, the restaurant was pretty well known in New York. It had been expanded many times and they were considering opening another one in the other end of the city.

**From Lafrench**

Will you answer me then?

And atm the apartment but I think we will go to garden later

  

**From Pocahamilton**

Yes, and okay.

 

**From Greek God**

Fyi I am the 1 txtng normally u guys r the weird 1s

  

**From Lafrench**

Sure sure, whatever you say honey

BACK TO ZE POINT

 

**From Pocahamilton**

I HAVE A DATE TONIGHT

 

**From Lafrench**

I KNEW YOU COULD DO IT IM SO PROUD

 

**From Greek God**

WHOOP WHOOP!

Where r u taking him?

  

**From Pocahamilton**

First I wanted to take him to the garden, but not if you guys are gonna be there

 

**From Lafrench**

Why not? I would sure like to meet this guy.

It is not often someone gets how you say printed into your memory, alex

 

**From Greek God**

Is it bc you r ASHAMED of us?

 

**From Pocahamilton**

Of course.

But no, really

I really just don’t think he would be comfortable with meeting any friends yet

You don’t understand, he seems SO shy and its adorable

 

**From Lafrench**

Okay okay. I will meet him when you are ready

We better get going

  

**From Greek God**

Have fun on ur d8

 

**From Pocahamilton**

Dear God, STOP with those “8”s

  

**From Greek God**

Okay, Im sorry, Ill stop now

You should get ready

 

**From Pocahamilton**

Thank you.

  

**From Greek God**

We don’t want you to be l8 for your d8, m8

  

**From Pocahamilton**

AAAAAHHHHH

 

**From Greek God**

Sorry

Remembr 2 use a condom, don’t get 8s m8

 

**From Pocahamilton**

wait

wAIT

DO YOU MEAN “AIDS”?

 

**From Greek God**

mhm

 

**From Pocahamilton**

OMG HERC

NO.

THATS ENOUGH

STOP DOING THT

STAHP.

 

**From Greek God**

Who is using incorrect English now, hmm?

  

**From Pocahamilton**

I. HATE. YOU.

  

**From Greek God**

ily2

See ya later lil man


	4. My Dear Laurens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex and John are going on their first date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoop Whoop! Another chapter! Their date chapter!  
> Also, a really quick shout out to accidentallybroken and rosy_cheekJohn22 for answering my questions!

Alex had four hours before meeting John at the restaurant he had picked. It was an Italian place, that also served take-out, which he had gotten a couple of times. He had only been at the actual restaurant once, and he felt like it was just perfect for a first date. The room had perfect lighting, not to bright, but not quite dark enough to be moody, and the walls were painted with old-Italian styled women, men and grapes.

Even with three hours at hand, Alex felt extremely stressed. He started with picking an outfit, or _tried_ to pick an outfit. He ended with three different shirts and two pants. He really wished Lafayette was there now, he also had a good sense of fashion.

_Why am I even stressing like this? It’s not like he will care if my shirt is green or blue._

He ended with a pair of jeans and an emerald green shirt. Laf always told him that that color suited him, and since he wasn’t here, Alex just had to remember, what he had told him before. 

Alex glanced at his watch. They were supposed to meet 6 pm and it was now…. 3 PM. Okay, so he definitely didn’t have to stress. The restaurant was a 30-minute walk from the apartment so just to be sure he didn’t arrive late (which he definitely didn’t want to) he should leave 5:20.

Time couldn’t go slower. He looked at his watch every 5 minutes but somehow it had only moved one minute.  He sat in his armchair for the first couple of minutes, doing absolutely nothing. After that unsuccessful strategy of spending time, he decided that he might as well pull out his computer and start on that essay they had due in a week. He didn’t really know how to concentrate on it though. He ended up on having made half a page of decent work. Which of course was not enough to satisfy Alexander Hamilton, so he deleted all of it.

_Well, that was a complete waste of time,_ he thought, but wasn’t that what he was supposed to anyway? Waste time until the date? He grabbed his coat and wallet, even though it was only 5.

In the end, it was lucky that he decided to go early because the walk was longer than he had thought and he ended up being there a quarter to 6. John was there merely seconds after, Alex had walked in.

He was wearing black skinny jeans and a maroon shirt. His hair was loose, no flowers, but a little damp, he had probably taken a shower. He tapped Alex on the shoulder to get his attention, “hey,” he said softly.

“Hey John! I was just getting our table.” Seeing John next to him, and this close, instead of separated by a counter made Alex realize some things. First of all, his hair looked incredibly soft and Alex wanted to run his finger through it, second, they were almost the exact same height, maybe less than an inch in difference, john being the smaller one, which made Alex really, really happy, ‘cause he thought it was impossible for him to ever find a boy smaller than himself. Third, He smelled like flowers, which maybe wasn’t surprising since he worked in a flower shop all day, but still. And last, his lips were beautiful. Pink, puffy and soft looking. They were also shimmering a little, maybe he had used lip balm.

A waitress let them to their table and gave them the menu. Set up against the wall and they sat across from each other. The table was small, very small, their knees bumped against each other if they moved too much or sudden.

“I’ve tasted the wine here before, and it was excellent, but it was my friend who chose it, since I have no idea how to choose wine,” Alex informed, “but since none of us are 21 I guess it doesn’t matter.”

“My father always said, that a proper gentleman selects the wine. Therefore, he taught me how to do it, when I was 13.”

“Are you saying that I am not a proper gentleman?” Alex teased.

“I- uh… O-of course not, that’s not what I-…” John blushed and looked down at the menu.

“Relax,” Alex laughed, “I didn’t _think_ you meant it, I was just joking!”

“Oh,” John giggled now as well, which just made Alex laugh more, which just made _John_ laugh, and soon enough they were shaking with laughter, both half lying on the table.  John was all red in his face when they had finally gathered themselves. People had started starring at them and gave them dirty looks for interrupting the quiet piece.

“I don’t know why we were laughing, it was not even funny!” John said.

“Well there you are completely wrong, my dear- uh, you never told me your last name?”

“Laurens.”

“Well, there you are completely wrong, my dear Laurens, it was very funny, or else we wouldn’t have laughed. 

“True,” John gave a slight chuckle again.

“Wait, didn’t you say you moved here from South Carolina?”

“Uh, yes?”

“And your surname is Laurens. Not as in _Senator Henry Laurens,_ is it?”

John sighed. “It is.”

It would be more than fair to say that Alex wasn’t a big fan of Henry Laurens. While Henry was against immigration, and said that immigrants ruined their country, stole their workplaces or grew up to be criminals, Alex – being an immigrant – was the exact opposite. He was on top of his class and had a bright future ahead of him. Being an immigrant shouldn’t change any of that, and just because you came from another country it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be treated like a normal human being. It’s not because American people are smarter, brighter, better and more nonviolent than the country next door.

“But that doesn’t mean I share his political views!” John quickly said, “I am nothing like him, I swear!” John looked worried and almost frantic. It seemed like people often had judged him because of his father. Alex placed his hand on top of Johns, quieting him 

“John, I _know_ you are nothing like your father. I barely know you, but yet I know that. You are way too sweet, and loving, and kind and…”

“Gay?” John suggested.

“Yes,” Alex smiled, “also that. But my point is that I don’t care who your father is. I only care about you.” John softened and looked visibly relaxed. He looked at Alex with such adoring eyes.

“Thank you,” he said quietly.

“Of course,” Alex said. “So!” He withdrew his hand to look back at the menu, “what are you planning on ordering? I can recommend the lasagna, it’s one of the best I’ve ever tasted.”

“Thank you, but I am actually vegetarian,” John informed.

“Oh. Yeah, you’re definitely too pure to be like your dad,” Alex chuckled, “but you should have told me, I would have chosen a place that specializes more in vegetarian food!”

“No, no, it’s totally fine. I think I will order the pumpkin ravioli, it looks very good.”

“Okay.”

“I’m sorry,” a waitress said, “but the guests at table six has complained about you-”

“Complained about us? About what, may I ask, we haven’t done anything!” Alex said annoyed, and looked around for table six. He was not going to let some snobby idiots ruin his date night.

“-and my boss told me that I had to tell you to leave.” The waitress looked nervous, after all she wasn’t the one who wanted them to leave. But Alex was a little too annoyed to care. He felt the anger bubble in him and he could take it out on any person who got in his way.

“What?! No, why- “

“Alex, let’s just leave,” John said, “We can find another place, it’s not worth the trouble.”

“No, I would like to know exactly _why,_ these people want us to leave. If it’s because we laughed then that was _one time_ , and long ago, anyways.” Alex had now located table six, and seated there was a family it seemed like. A man, maybe in the end of his twenties, what seemed like his wife, and two elder couples. All of them white and rich looking. The elder women both had a lot of jewelry on and the men suit and ties.

John had already risen from his seat and started putting his jacket on when the waitress spoke: “No, it is because the young gentleman wasn’t comfortable with two men holding hands.”

Before Alex had a chance to be offended John yelled: “ _WHAT?!”_ Alex was taken aback, he had never heard John raise his voice that much.

“It is not my opinion!” The waitress rushed to say, “believe me, I would much rather kick them out- “

The waitress spoke fast, but it was no use. John was already halfway to table six. He took the man by his collar, withdrew his knuckled hand and hit him square in the face. The waitress gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. John turned back to Alex, crackled his neck and said: “Okay Alexander. Let’s go.”

Alex grabbed his jacket, saluted, and followed John out the restaurant with every single eye on them. As soon as they were outside John shook his hand in pain, “ahhhh, _God,_ that hurt!”

Alex just looked at John, stunned, but also completely in awe. How could John act so cute and innocent all the time, then do something like this and make it look so fucking _sexy_?

John noticed Alex’ speechlessness and took it as a bad sign, “was that… Too much?”

“What? No! That guy deserved it, Jesus, John, it was just so… Hot!” Alex had finally regained the power to speech 

“Really?”

“Duh! And if you think your hand hurts, you should’ve seen that guy! You gave him nose bleed! It was awesome! The way you hit him, perfect, you would think that you were professional, and I didn’t know you were so strong, you sure are full of surprises, normally I would think the date ruined, but, honestly, I think you made it better! You actually just made me like you even more, and I guess you also- “

“Alexander!” John laughed, “You’re rambling!”

“Oh yeah. I’m sorry, that happens when I get excited. And nervous, and angry and I guess it just happens all the time.”

“It’s alright, it’s cute,” John smiled, “you can talk for both of us. I’m sure you’ve noticed, I can be a little shy.”

“Right. You do the punching, I do the talking.” This made John laugh.

“Uhm, what are we gonna do now?”

“I don’t know, it’s not even 7. I don’t know about you, but I’m suddenly not very hungry. Wanna grab some ice cream?”

“Ye-ah! Can we please go to the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop?”

“Of course! I doubt that there will be any homophobes there so you won’t have to hit anyone.” John clapped his hands in delight, and they started walking. “Apropos hitting anyone, how’s your hand?”

“It’s fine. It will probably bruise a little though.”

“I don’t know if I mentioned it, but it was pretty damn hot, that thing you did.” John giggled and blushed,

“I think I’ve heard you say it a time or two.”

They walked the rest of the way in comfortable silence. When they had gotten their ice cream (They both got Gobbler Sundaes, Alex with blueberry and John with apple) it was sundown.

“This is one of the rare moments, where I miss South Carolina,” John said as they sat outside, eating their ice cream, “I love New York, but all the tall buildings ruin the beautiful moments like this.”

“I know. I don’t know if I told you this, but I moved here from the Caribbean when I was 17.” John nodded. “My mom died when I was twelve, but she used to take me to the beach at evening. We would watch the sun go down over the horizon line. It was beautiful,” Alex felt a single tear fall from his eye. John took his hand and squeezed. And that was all. No words were needed.


	5. Coffee Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex and John are doing some bonding at Starbucks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wooo another chapter! I know I'm getting slower with the updates, but really I've just been extremely busy, but its alright, because in a month I have SUMMER VACATION YES YES YES!!! Also, next week is Kristi himmelfart which is a small holiday in Denmark (don't know if they have it anywhere else) so I get a couple of days off and will make sure to bring in an update or two ;)
> 
> And another question (Yes, I know I have a lot of questions, but seriously, htf does America even work??) If Alex just turned 20, would that make him a college junior? Or could he be a freshman? I'll find a way to make it work either way :)
> 
> Thank you for sticking around and reading!

**From My Alexander <3**

Hey! Where are you? Wanna hang out?

  

**From John <3**

I’m sorry, would love to but I’m a work rn

 

**From My Alexander <3**

Can I come over to the shop then?

 

**From John <3**

I’m not at the shop

Its my other job, at Starbucks

 

**From My Alexander <3**

You have two jobs…

And one of them is as a barista at Starbucks?

C’mon John, you can find a better coffee shop than that

But honestly, why do you have two jobs?

 

**From John <3**

I just need the money

I’ll see if I can save up to college

 

**From My Alexander <3**

Yeah, about that

Why don’t you go to college?

 

 John knew that Alexander was curious. He had been able to tell from the first time they met, and that was almost two weeks ago now. There was really no reason to _not_ tell Alexander, he already knew about John’s dad, he would just rather have it a verbal conversation, rather than texting.

 

**From John <3**

I’ll tell you the next time we are together

 

Besides, it would be nice to tell someone. He only had one other real friend in New York and her name was Maria. She was the only other employee at the flower shop, but only had about half as many shifts as John. Not that he was complaining, he needed the money and had nothing else to do. So when he wasn’t at the shop, he worked at Starbucks, and sometimes he took a few evening shifts at a small pizza place, but the payment was so shit, that he only did it, when he really needed it. When he wasn’t working, he was drawing. He loved to draw. He had a small room in his small apartment that was meant to be a study room, but since he didn’t have anything to study, he had made it in to a painting room. Sometimes he could sell some of his good ones.

From time to time he also painted, but it was hard to find good paint and brushes for a decent price. Mostly he used pencils or ink, but sometimes he dug out his watercolors, since he could get decent ones at the drugstore. He often had his sketchbook on him, because he knew there could be slow days at work.

 

**From My Alexander <3**

Which starbucks do you work at?

 

**From John <3**

The one on Broadway

Why?

 

**From My Alexander <3**

You do realize that there is, like, 100 Starbucks’ on Broadway, right?

Which one?

 

**From John <3**

1700 Broadway

Why?

Hello?

 

30 minutes later Alexander stood on the other side of the counter. John just looked at him, as he smirked, “Now we are together! Feel free to tell me everything. And I’ll take a medium, oh sorry, _Grande,_ ” Alexander said with mock accent, “Cup of coffee. I don't know your weird menu so just give me something strong _without_ any of that sweetening or spice bullshit.”

 John rolled his eyes as he turned around to make the drink, “when I said ‘next time we meet’ I met like a _date,_ or something. Not you randomly showing up at my workplace”

 “When do you get off?”

“Like,” John glanced at the clock, “in an hour.”

 “Great! I’ll take you on a date! Right here, right away.”

“Seriously?” John quirked his eyebrows.

 “Yup. And- ooh, I’ll also take one of those peanut butter cup cookies –and we will tell each other stuff.”

 “Don’t you think it’s a little early to go to the deep stuff?” Alexander shrugged.

“Okay, how ‘bout this,” Alexander started, “we’ll take turns asking each other questions. Doesn’t have to be deep stuff. Just, like, ‘what’s your favorite color?’”

 “Okay. And Green.”

 Alexanders eyes widened, “me too!” He said enthusiastically, “emerald green, to be specific.”

 “I’m more about the olive green,” John said as he placed the coffee and cookie on the counter.

 “Great,” Alexander said and paid, “I already know more about you! See you in an hour!” John shook his head, but smiled fondly as Alexander walked away.

 The hour passed by pretty fast, and John threw his apron, as he joined Alexander at his little table by the window, “okay,” he said, “what do you want to know about me, Alexander?”

 “That. I’ll start with asking you; why do you always call me ‘Alexander’ instead of just ‘Alex’?”

 John shrugged, “you said that only the ones close to you called you Alex. So I didn’t want to- what? Why are you- why are you laughing, it’s only polite to not assume that we are closer than we actually are, I didn’t want to be that guy!” The more John talked, the more he blushed, and the more Alexander laughed.

 “John! You can call me Alex! We’re close, I think that I want to spend a good amount of time with you,” _Alex_ said.

“Okay. _Alex._ ” John liked the way the words tasted on his lips. “What do you study?” He asked.

 “Pre-law. With a minor in English. What do you do in your spare time?”

“I don’t have much. I draw a lot. Who do you live with, and where?”

 “A nice, generous apartment outside of campus with two of my best friends, Lafayette and Hercules.”

 “Lafayette and Hercules?” John quirked an eyebrow in question.

 “Yes, yes, I know, weird names. He is French, and he is… Irish, I think. He doesn’t have much of an accent, though. Why don’t you go to college?”

 “What happened with the easy, not deep questions?!”

 “We already asked them,” Alex waved a dismissive hand in the air and scrunched his nose.

 John took a deep breath, “here we go. Okay, just promise me not to make too much out of it, okay? Thanks. I was supposed to go to Columbia too, right now. But after I graduated high school, right before summer vacation, I kind of… came out to my father? We were fighting, I was angry and just said things. As you may can imagine, he didn’t take it very well. There was even more yelling and he ended up with disowning my ass and kicking me out. So I was left with pretty much nothing. Just enough to move here and get a small apartment but not enough for college. Obviously I would still like to make something out of my life, so I’m saving my money.” John told the story in as little details as possible. Refrained from telling Alex the part, where his dad may or may not have hit him.

 Alex blinked a couple of times. “Whoa. That’s… _awful_!”

 “Alex…”

“No! What a homophobic dickhead! You are supposed to love your child more than anything, not kicking them out for something they can’t even control! Because why would someone _decide_ to be an outcast? To be seen as sick, wrong, a ‘slip-up’ that God forgot to put some ‘masculinity’ in? It is not right for you to be treated like that.”

 “But I did, and that’s how it is. Next question. How and why did you come to America?”

 Alex should have seen that coming, it shouldn’t be a surprise. He supposed he kinda owed John for telling him his own tragic backstory, _God that just sounds like we’re in a bad fanfiction,_ Alex thought. He still didn’t want to or like to talk about his past. “Well, my past is pretty complicated, but I should probably start from the beginning. I’ll spare you the details, and just give you a summary instead of the full sob story.” Alexander took a deep breath, _well here goes nothing. Except my whole fucking lifestory up till now, that John will probably judge me of or **pity** me._ “My dad left me and my mom when I was ten. We both got very sick when I was 12. I survived the disease, but it took her life. At age 17 a hurricane destroyed my town, everyone around me drowned, but, somehow, I survived again, with just a few scratches. I wrote a poem about the pain and destruction the hurricane left, and the villagers discovered that I was actually really talented and smart. They raised enough money for me to book passage on a ship, that was sailing for New York. The ship caught on fire right before we reached New York, again, I survived.” Alex chuckled darkly, “I just can’t seem to die, even though the universe clearly tries.”

 “Don’t say stuff like that. There is no such thing as ‘the will of the universe’ and even if there was, it was clearly the universe’ will to let you survive. There is so much you can do, you’re smart, a _genius_ basically, and you have such a way with words.” John smiled softly – a smile that Alex returned – and reached across the table to link their hands.

 “My friends want to meet you,” Alex said and changed the subject, “I’ve kinda, told them a lot about you… So if it’s fine with you…”

 “Of course I would like to meet your friends. But I might be… A little nervous.”

 “Don’t worry, I already told them that you are the shiest human being on earth,” Alex smirked. John leaned across the table and shoved Alex’ shoulder, “fuck off!” He said, but his tone was playful and he was laughing.

“I’m really happy that we can tell each other things like this,” Alex said.

 “Like ‘fuck off’?”

 Alex rolled his eyes, “No idiot. Like, things about our past.”

 “Me too. Wanna get out of here?”

“For sure.”

 They grabbed their stuff and ventured out on the street. “I should get home,” John said.

 “Okay,” Alex said softly, “It was very nice today.”

 “Yeah. Very.” They looked each other the eyes for a couple of seconds. Alex’ eyes darted from Johns beautiful green ones and his puffed lips. His cheeks had become a rosy color from the cool air and his freckles stood out. All in all, John looked beautiful, and the timing seemed just right. Alex felt drawn to John like a magnet. He moved a little closer and dug in for a kiss.

John avoided it, and stumbled backwards.

  _Oh._

 “Oh my God, I’m so sorry Alex!” John placed his hand on Alex’ shoulder.

 “Oh, no, I’m sorry,” Alex said slowly, “I shouldn’t have.”

 “No! It’s all my fault! I’m so sorry, I should have told you. The thing is, Alex, I’m _demisexual._ It has nothing to do with you, I really like you, I’m just not… Ready… I’m sorry, I- I should have told you. I understand if you are not okay with that, and don’t want to be with me.” John looked down at his shoes.

 …

 …

 …

 “Please say something?” John’s voice cracked. He was on the verge of tears now.

 Alex took Johns hand. “I don’t care about that…” Alex was close to say ‘I love you’ but stopped himself in time. “Don’t for a second think I would leave you for something like that. We will take it in your pace.” Alex hesitated for a second, then lifted John’s hand and pressed his lips against it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I've noticed that this far it has been a lot of Alex and John hanging out, and not that much plot yet, but I swear, SOON the plot will begin! I have most of the story planned out!


	6. A Day In Life of John

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Get a look inside of Johns mind and his everyday.

John threw his things on the floor, the second he stepped inside his little, crappy apartment. He had taken another shift at his job – which was now his _ex_ -job – at his least favorite pizza place in the world, and gotten into an argument with his boss, a small alcoholic man, who was losing his hair, had a big red nose and a beer belly. So, now he was fired, which he should be happy about, because the job had really sucked. And he would be happy about it, if it wasn’t because it was so damn hard to find a job, where you could just take shifts whenever you had the time, and get payed for the work you did. Because even though it was tiresome and exhausting, he really needed the money, if he ever wanted to start college.

It was kinda his own fault, he knew, but he should have the right to be gay _and_ go to college, without having to work his ass off. Well, not if you asked his father.

 _What happened between him and his father anyway?_ You might think.

Well it was quite the story.

_“Jack,” Henry said from the livingroom, “That sweet girl, Martha, called again. I think you should call her back, she could be a good influence on you.”_

_What exactly what that supposed to mean? “Uhm, thank you father.” John moved to go up the stairs but was stopped by his father’s stiff voice: “So are you going to call her back now?”_

_“No… Uhm, I don’t think I’m gonna call her back at all.”_

_“That’s very rude of you, Jack.” John could almost feel his father’s glare on him. “Come in here, son.” John slowly turned around and walked down the few steps of the stair, that he had taken. He continued into the living room, where his father sat on the couch with a half empty whiskey glass in hand._ Great, _John thought,_ he’s been drinking as well. 

_“I want you to call Martha back.” Henry said with stern, you-do-as-you’ve-been-told voice._

_“Why? I don’t_ want _to, I don’t even_ like _her!”_

 _“And why don’t you? She is a nice girl, pretty, and comes from a good family.” Martha Manning had everything a girl needed to marry one of Henry Laurens’ sons. Flat, blond hair, busty, white smile,_ white _._ _And that was just her looks, Henry Laurens didn’t understand how she_ couldn’t _be any guys type. Well Henry Laurens wasn’t all that smart when it came to people. “If you ask me, you should have taken her with you to prom instead of going with your friends. I will never understand how you kids think it’s ‘cool’ to come in a group of guys, instead of with a fine, young lady on your arm.”_

_It wasn’t ‘cool’ to come as a group of guys, that’s just what John had told his dad instead of having to take a girl and have the most uncomfortable and awkward night of his life. It still was that, uncomfortable and awkward, but it would have been even worse if he had brought a girl. John wasn’t one for proms in the beginning, since he wouldn’t be able to bring a date he wanted without being shunned and beaten half to death by homophobes on the football team, and he knew that if Martha Manning had her shot, she would most definitely try to kiss him._

_“She is really just not my_ type, _\- “_

_“You see, I don’t understand that-“_

_“- what is there to not understand? I don’t find her attractive- “_

_“- she is everything a guy like you should look for in a girl- “_

_“- oh what, because she has rich parents? because she is_ white _?!?”_

_“- sweet, smart, outgoing, pretty, - “_

_“- annoying, dumb, racist, girly- “_

_John had raised his voice, and Henrys grew stronger and more strict for every word, in that henry kind of way, where he didn’t raise it, but just made it sound so strong, and it made you want shrink until you were nothing._

_John had always been afraid of his father, afraid of what he would think of him, afraid of him when he had been drinking and needed someone to blame for everything. John, as the oldest, had always been protecting towards his siblings, gushing them out of the room an into their beds and wait and see what Henry would do. Mostly, he would pass out on the couch, and John would go to bed, but other times, he would mumble things to himself, racist, homophobic, sexist things, that John would happen to overhear. He would then start to defend whoever was the target of Henrys rage, which Henry did not like._

_John had been hit one time before. They had gotten in a fight about women’s rights, and John just couldn’t believe how Henry could say some of those things when he had two daughters himself. He remembered like it was yesterday, how Henry had pulled back his hand and slapped him with the back of it._

_Henry slowly rose from his seat on the couch and spoke sternly: “What exactly do you mean by that, son?” Henry stared at John as he spoke, and John couldn’t contain his anger._

_“It means that I’m gay, dad! I AM FUCKING GAY! How does that make you feel, huh?” Henry was seething with anger, but John didn’t care, he just kept speaking: “Did you hear that? Your oldest son likes to kiss other guys and take it up the ass!”_

_“GET OUT.” Henry yelled, “Get out of my house, faggots like you are not welcome here! You are not my son, I forbid you to ever take contact with your siblings again!”_

_“Oh, why dad? Are you afraid they’ll catch the homo? Be careful, your kids might get infected by the gay! Or, oh wait, maybe it is because all us homos are pedophile perverts? Do you really think that I would_ ever _lay a hand on them? That I would rape them, or abuse them, or expose them for_ any _kind of sexual assault? You are_ disgusting _if you could ever think that, I am GAY, that doesn’t mean, I am not human or different, the only difference is that I like to kiss_ boys _, is that really such a great problem for you? Are you really that homophobic, or is it- “_

_John was cut off as Henrys fist connected with his left cheek. He should have seen the punch coming, yet he didn’t. His father was strong, he had served in the military, not for long, but still. He was trained and knew exactly how to deliver a punch._

_It was unexpected, and John lost balance. He took his hand up to his cheek where he could already feel a bruise forming. He stared up at his father who spoke: “Leave. I don’t want you to ever step foot in my house again.”_

_John stood up from the floor with all the dignity he had left. It took all his willpower to just turn around without saying another word. As soon as he had walked up the stairs he ran into his room and threw the most important things in a big backpack. Some clothes, his laptop, change, and a charger for his phone._

_As he walked out his room and out on the hallway, Martha stood there. “What are you doing?” She asked. John just walked past her, “Jack!” She called after him, “where are you going?!” Again, John didn’t answer her. He ran down the stairs, starting to feel the tears prickling in his eyes._

_When he walked through the living room he saw his father, back on the couch, sitting hunched over, fingers on the bridge of his nose and a new glass of whiskey in his hand._

_John slammed the door behind him, as he left._

John walked into his art study. It was a small room. His desk was placed so he sat between that and the wall. Besides that, there wasn’t really anything in the room, not because he could fit anything more in there. There were paintings and drawing everywhere on the wall. Some of his less good ones, or half-finished, lay loose on the floor. He picked up a paper and one of his pencils and started drawing.

He drew to relax and de-stress, like other people would watch Netflix or exercise. Mostly, he didn’t even think, just let his hand run over the paper, create lines, circles, curves and so on…

Often he didn’t even realize what he drew, this was one of those times. He didn’t think about it, trusted his mind and hand to work together and come up with one of his masterpieces.

As he drew, his thoughts shifted to Alex. They were meeting up Friday night which was in two days. Normally, he would be excited to see Alex, and of course he did, but he was also supposed to meet Alex friends, which was what he _really_ was worried about.

But it was going to be fine, Alex was there and just the thought of that, made John feel safe. Safer than he had felt in a long time. Maybe it was his constant need to talk, or how excited and passionate he could get on certain topics, but it made John feel _home_. And not South Carolina home, but a home where he felt safe, like he belonged, was wanted and not just the ‘weird gay kid’. There were so many people like him in New York. Here he wasn’t an outsider, he belonged. He had no family holding him back, it was just him and only him, and for the first time in forever he felt _free._

He focused on his drawing and saw big, dark, sparkling eyes, a goatee, black hair falling in front of the man’s face in beautiful waves. 

John had drawn Alexander.

It really was no surprise, Alex had been on Johns mind non-stop the last couple of weeks, but there was still something… _intimate,_ about drawing a person you’ve only dated for a couple weeks.

He sighed and lay down the pen to continue later. He opened his laptop to see if there were any free jobs that fitted him. No luck. Again, he sighed. It was not his day, not many days were. He glanced at the clock. 7:49. He supposed he should eat something, but he really didn’t feel hungry.

He walked inside his bathroom, which was what you could expect from this type of apartment. It was the size of a hotel bathroom, the lightning was bad, there were several cracks in the walls, there were weird stains on the mirror and he was 99% sure it wasn’t him. There were a couple empty shampoo and conditioner bottles, but that was not really for the apartment to blame.

He splashed some water in his face and caught sight of himself in the mirror. He rubbed his cheeks, that were full of freckles. He had never been too fond of his freckles, he always teased with them in kindergarten. Not that John was a bully victim, no, his family was waaaay to powerful and feared for that. He had friends, a lot of people was willing to hang out with him, he just preferred to be on his own. He never knew if the friendship would be real, or if the person was just out for good connections, or if the friendship was formed out of fear. Even if he should get a real friend, he would be way to scared to mess it up, or that they would not like him, thinking him being shy and boring. Also, if he got a friend they would maybe find out about his _huge_ crush on the quarterback, Francis Kinloch. The guy actually turned out to be a douche with some pretty bad stands.

John moved from his freckles to his eyes. Now _this_ was something he could be proud of. Beautiful deep green with the edge of his iris hazel. They were a perfect mix of his mom and dad. No matter how much he didn’t like his father, he was grateful for the looks. People had always told him what a handsome man his dad has been as young. ‘He could have gotten any girl he wanted!’ ‘Yeah, if he didn’t play hard to get all the time.’ They would say with a playful wink. _Any girl he wanted…_ John though, _and yet he chose my mother._ There had been some disagreements when Henry announced his engagement with Eleanor. She had immigrated from Colombia, had no impressive name nor money. Yet, his father loved her.

Sometimes he wondered what happened to his dad. Going from the young, handsome boy, who went against his entire family, to marry a Latino girl, whom he loved, to this narrow-minded, racist, strict old man he was now.

John undressed and stepped in the shower, prayed that the hot water worked. He washed his hair and emptied another bottle of conditioner. He stepped into his turtle pajama and brushed his hair. 8:31. It was still early, but he was exhausted. He flopped himself down on his bed and for the first time, he noticed how lonely he was. How lonely he had _been._ Back in South Carolina he had had his siblings, who he loved to death, but they had their own lives. When he moved to New York he didn’t have anyone either. The closest he came to a friend was Maria, but they barely saw each other outside of work.

Maybe that was gonna change now. 

Maybe he wouldn’t be lonely ever again.

Maybe he could build his future with Alex.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have much to say this time... hope you enjoyed... comments are appreciated...


	7. The Gang

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex takes John to the Garden to meet the rest of the gang.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writers block... what else can I say? I've gotten halfway through the next chapter, deleted it, and then re-writing it again until I've gotten tired of it. Oh well, not much I can do, I try figuring out new ways to write it/end it. It'll be out as soon as its ready :)  
> Until the, I hope you will enjoy this chapter!

“You ready, sweetheart?” Alex asked and stepped inside his apartment. “Woah. You really live her?” He asked and looked around skeptically.

“I know it’s not much. But it’s all I can afford, has to spare as much as possible.” Alex looked around on a couple of things.

“Christ, John. We will have to find something better for you. There’s barely any space for moving here!”

“Like where? It can’t cost more than here.”

Alex just shrugged. “We will come up with something. Ready to go?”

John nodded, grabbed his coat and followed Alex out the door. They were going to the Garden, where the others were waiting for them.  He wanted to deny it, but he couldn’t control the little blob of nervousness in his bottom stomach.

“Heyy! Hamilton! Bring yo ass over here!” A big guy yelled almost as soon as they stepped inside the restaurant.

“Calm down Herc, we saw each other this morning!” Alex said back, and pulled the guy (Herc? That was a pretty weird name if you asked John) in for a bro-hug.

“John, this is my roommate Hercules, and the handsome guy next to him is Lafayette. He is French so don’t judge him too hard when he’s being weird.”

Lafayette looked pointedly at Alex, but shook John’s hand, nonetheless. “Hello _mon ami,_ I am Lafayette, as Alex was so _kind_ to tell you. I see, he did not understate, when he told us about, how pretty you are.” Laf winked at him, and john blushed a pretty shade of red.

“Now, now,” Hercules said, “He is already taken, remember?” and John thought it almost sounded like jealousy.

“The pretty woman there is Angelica Schuyler,” Alex moved on. She stuck out her hand to shake, and John gladly took it.

“Aromantic,” she informed. “My only passion is feminism.”

John smiled at her, “Cool.” He noticed her appearance, she had a leather jacket, long black hair pulled back, a nose ring (not one of those in the middle of the nose, but in her left nostril), wide, dark eyes and earrings. She looked so confident and badass, John admired her, and they had barely met.

“Her sister, Peggy,” Alex pointed to the next girl, also really pretty. She looked natural, John doubted she had any make up on, puffy, curly hair, half of it pulled back in a ponytail. She had white pants, floral printed with sunflowers and a yellow crop top. If John wasn’t gay, Peggy might had been his soulmate 

She flashed him a bright smile with a perfect set of teeth, “Hello John, what a stunning papaya you are.”

John looked at her a little confused, but smiled and chuckled a little. “You too, Pegarita.” Peggy’s mouth made an ‘o’ shape, and she smiled bigger and brighter. “Oh like him. I like him a lot. You should def stick to him ‘lex.”

“If you say so Peggy.”

“Of course I say so. Have you looked at him? You won’t find any better, I tell you, – well, unless you wanna date me of course – and my word is law.” John decided that he liked Peggy. He moved his eyes to the next girl.

“Oh, hey Eliza!”

“Hey John!” Eliza smiled sweetly and waved.

“Wait, you two already know each other?” Alex asked confused.

“Yeah, of course!” Eliza answered, bright as ever, “He was the one who set me up with Maria!”

“Wait, you’ve known him for months, and yet, _you never introduced us?!”_

“Well, sorry!” Eliza held up her hands in surrender, “But it’s not like I introduce you to every one of my friends.”

“Speaking of Maria,” Angelica cut in, “Where is she? Wasn’t she supposed to be here?”

“She’ll be here in a second, she just had to finish up her shift.”

Angelica snorted. It was commonly known, that Maria didn’t work much, even when she was working. “I’m too stunning for work,” she says, “And I am really bad at matching flowers.” The thing was, that Maria actually _would_ work really well, if she just found a job that interested her. John knew that she was very smart, and talented in many ways, if she would just try, but she always said, that she didn’t want to waste her time on things that didn’t interest her.

“And that,” Alex pointed at two boys, one of them tall with a confident smile. He had big hair loose in an afro and looked overall fabulous (but also a little pretentious) in a purple shirt, sleeves folded up to right under his elbows and a black tie. The other boy, it should be noted that he was very small, leaned his head on the taller one, who had his arm wrapped around the smaller one’s shoulder. “Is Thomas Jefferson and his boyfriend James Madison. They’re kinda cool most of the time.”

“Why, thank you, Hamilton, that is probably the sweetest thing you have ever told me.” Thomas said with a thick southern accent.

“Yeah, yeah, don’t get used to it though.”

With some difficulty, John and Alex squeezed themselves into the round booth, and a waiter placed some nachos in the middle of the table.

“So, how did y’all even end up with Alex?” John figured that would be a good way to start.

“Oooh, this is going to be some interesting stories!” Laf said, and started rubbing his hands together.

“Yeah maybe, but not from _you_.” Alex said, shooting down Laf’s sinister mood and made him pout.

“For Laf and I, it’s not so interesting. I was the first one here to meet him. It was in the park, nothing special. We got into a conversation, and I told him about my passion for sewing. He was the first guy not to make fun of me, because a _man_ looking like _me_ can’t have a freakin’ heart for fashion, apparently. We became really close friends after that and Lafayette moved to America soon after.” Hercules looked at Laf with adoring eyes. “He couldn’t say a word in English, so we taught him.”

“And I am very grateful for that, _mon ami._ ”

“How long ago was that?” John asked, interested.

“High School, junior year,” Alex said, “I was a junior, Herc was a senior. I wasn’t supposed to go to high school when I came here, but everyone was like ‘ooh, Alex you should totally get the American High School experience,’ ‘yeah, you should totally go to high school to get a better understanding of America and the English language,’” Alex said with a mocking, high pitched voice, “Yeah, thanks. High school fucking sucked, that’s why I graduated early and skipped the last year. It was also kinda embarrassing to be the oldest and smallest guy in all my classes, which were easy by the way.”

“Wait, so you’re only in your first year of college?”

“A freshman, yes. I started high school when I was 17, graduated when I was 19 and started college that same year.  And just so you know, Laf, Herc, Eliza and Maria are all freshman too. Peggy is still in her senior year of high school, James and Thomas are sophomores and Angelica is a senior.”

“I want to tell my story about how I met Alex!” Angelica said, before John had time to react to the new piece of information he had gotten.

Alex groaned and lay his head on the table. “Please don’t,” he said, “I already have embarrassment enough in my life.”

Angelica completely ignored him and started telling her story to John: “So, I already knew Herc, right? So Herc had invited me to this part, and he said, he had met this new kid, and wanted us all to meet him. So at this party, Alex had gotten a couple of drinks and walked up to me, without knowing I was ‘that friend of Hercs’, and said to me with these exact words: ‘You strike me as a woman who has never been satisfied. I’m sure, _I_ can satisfy all of your needs.’”

With those words the whole table (except Alex, who was a little too busy sitting leaned back in his seat with crossed arms and a pouty expression) _burst_ out laughing. Hercules leaned over the table and smacked his fist down on it. Eliza was trying to hide that she was laughing (for the sake of Alex), but not doing a very good job. She hid her mouth behind her hands and was all red in the face, with tears in the corner of her eyes. Peggy, the exact opposite, had no shame in her laughter, had her mouth wide open and her head thrown back.

“Oh God, it sounds like a horrible Snickers commercial!” John got out in between laughs, and caused even more laughter. “What did you do then?”

“I threw my freaking drink at him!” Angelica laughed bad, and Johns stomach hurt from all the laughing.

“I’m not very fond of any of you right now.” Alex said as the laughter was slowly dying out.

“Aw, I’m sorry peaches.” John said and kissed his cheek. Alex blushed and looked surprised at him. John just took his hand and smiled at the others as they were recovering from their laughter.

“Your turn Pegs,” Angelica said and patted Peggy on the back.

“Yeah. It was at school, in the canteen. I basically moonwalked into him and made him spill his entire tray over himself. 

“That was my favorite sweater. Ruined.”

“Yeah, yeah pouty-mouth, you only had a slice of pizza on that tray.”

“I was planning on eating that pizza!”

“I gave you mine!"

“Yours had _pineapple_ on it! Like I would ever eat something that disgusting!”

“DON’T EVER SAY THAT ANY FOOD IS DISGUSTING AGAIN, YOU DISGUSTING CAKE!”

“YOU JUST CALLED CAKE DISGU-“

“NO, I CALLED _YOU_ DISGUSTING!”

“OKAY ENOUGH.” Angelica yelled, and both of them fell quiet in less than a second. Angelica turned her attention against John, who looked a little terrified. “Don’t think too much of that, they do it all the time but means no harm with it.”

“That’s true,” Alex chimed in, “Pegster and I are the bestest of best friends,” Alex said and reached across the table and took Peggy’s hand.

“Yup,” she said and then looked towards Alex and lowered her voice, “call me ‘Pegster’ again and I will crush you.” She squeezed Alex’ hand and sat back down, smiling. Alex, on the other hand (hah, hand) shook his hand in pain. “Damn, you’re a lot stronger than you look…” He said. She just nodded.

“How ‘bout you, Eliza?” John said, changing the subject from Alex and Peggy’s weird friendship. (“Cash me ou’side, howbow dah,” Peggy said to herself)

“Since it seems like a tradition that a Schuyler sister spills something over Alex, first time they meet him, I am proud to have done the same.” She said with a smile. “But it wasn’t so bad. It was here, at Garden, I was his waiter and when I wanted to refill his glass I accidently spilled some on him. I apologized many times, and he asked me on a date, which I politely declined.” She said smiling.

John thought a little about that and didn’t even notice Maria joining them at the table, next to Eliza, before she was snapping her fingers in front of his nose. “Helloo, Earth to John.” He winced at the sudden disturb of his peace. “Oh good, you’re back. So what were you guys talking about?”

“We were just sharing our stories about how we met _le petit lion._ ” Laf said.

“Great!” She smiled that beautiful smile of hers. “Did I miss Angelicas?”

“Sadly, yes.” She pouted. “Actually, it just happens to be your turn, _beau.”_

“I really don’t think we need anymore…” Alex halfheartedly argued.

“Nonsense! It’s just a little fun! We met not too long ago – after you came to the city, John, but before I met Eliza – in one of those shady will-let-anyone-in-if-you-are-just-mildly-attractive clubs and we made out. End of story.” John stared at her with wide eyes and quirked an eyebrow. Alex looked at his hands. “But I am kinda grateful for it because right after, I realized that I was a lesbian.”

“Was he really that bad?” Angelica asked.

“I mean no. I guess he was pretty experienced in the topic, but as I said, not my cup of tea.” She kissed Eliza on the nose. “This is my love.”

“I pushed him down the stairs.” Thomas shrugged, and Johns eyes got even wider.

“I drove him to the hospital.” James said, and it was the first time John heard him talk.

“Why did he need to go to the hospital?” He asked.

“Because Jeffershit there pushed me down the stairs,” Alex answered grumpily.

“You are a very interesting group of very interesting people,” John said. The nachos were all eaten now, and everyone were finished with their drinks.

“Oh, just wait and see,” Jefferson said. “Wait, wasn’t _Burr_ supposed to come?”

“Funny,” Alex said, “I didn’t even notice he wasn’t here.”

“Oh, Aaron texted me and said that he had some stuff planned out with Theodosia,” Eliza said.

“Oh yeah!” Maria said, “How’s it going with them? They are so cute together…” She said and slung an arm around Eliza.

“Really good. I’ve never seen Aaron this happy, to be honest.”

“Good for him. He deserves happiness, even though he can be kinda frustrating.” Alex said, and then to John: “Aaron is our other friend.”

“Oh, good, because I thought you were talking about that homeless person.” Johns voice was dripping with sarcasm.

“Aw, you’re so adorable when your being sarcastic.” Alex nuzzled Johns cheek with his nose.

“Wadr! Go away, you’re disgusting!” John tried to sound like he meant it, but his giggle betrayed him.


	8. We're not fighting, we're discussing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I SHOULD HAVE UPDATED THIS LONG AGO I'M SO SORRY
> 
> But yeah, I had a writing block, which I'm out of now SO THE UPDATES ONCE A WEEK WILL CONTINUE FROM HERE.
> 
> The best way to get out of a block should be to write something else, so I did that. Its up on my ao3 you can read it if you want to, but its very different from this story (its still lams though) its only a one shot with about 1000 words. 
> 
> Thank you for being patient with this story!!!

“So, how did you like it?” Alex asked as soon as they were out on the street. Their little (loud) banquet had dissolved the later they got on the evening. Maria and Eliza had been the first to leave, said they had their own evening planned. The next to leave was Peggy “Daddy-said-to-be-home-by-sundown” Schuyler, who dragged a protesting Angelica with her. John learned some about Alex’ and Thomas’ confusing friendship, or as they said they were, “frenemies” before Thomas and James left (something about James’ health?), and last, it was just Lafayette, Hercules, Alexander and John. 

John liked Alex’ friends, they had a lot in common and were funny. It was also obvious how bad Herc had it for Laf. It was easy to see, the way he looked at him, the way he spoke to him, the casual, gentle little touches. John thought it was sweet, Herc wasn’t exactly the one you would think for silly little crushes, but he was so _careful._ Careful in two ways, as in being gentle and soft, but also full-of-care.

“You had fun? I know my friends can be quite the mouthful, but they mean well, they all seemed to like you, because, honestly, how could they _not_?” John liked it when Alex talked, which he did _a lot,_ so that was lucky. Most people would probably see it as a downside, but not John, he thought there was something nice and comforting about listening. Still, he couldn’t help but wonder-

“Are you alright?” Alex asked. “You seem a little distant.” Alex looked at him curiously, and John stopped where they were walking on the sidewalk. 

“Hey Alex…”

“… Yeah? What’s up? Was I too much?”

“No, I really enjoyed talking with your friends. But it’s just what they said. Alex, exactly how many people have you… Been with?”

“Uhm… Do you mean, like, _dated_?" 

“Yeah, dated or asked out or… been with…” John looked down, embarrassed that he couldn’t even _say the fucking word without getting embarrassed or blush._

“So, dated, asked out or had sex with?” John nodded, still not meeting Alex’ eyes. “Why does that even matter?” Alex chuckled.

“Why it matters?” John looked up, meeting Alex’ eyes. “Why I think it _matters_?! Well, because how they talked in there, it sounded like pretty common knowledge that Alexander Hamilton… _Slept around_!” John spluttered. “I mean seriously, both Maria, Angelica _and_ Eliza? I mean what’s next, you gonna tell me you kissed _Lafayette?!”_

Alex didn’t answer.

“You kissed Lafayette?” John asked in disbelief and quirked his eyebrows.

“Well… Maybe we… Slept together once? Twice… But, honestly, I don’t see the problem? I mean, yeah, I’m a guy, and yeah, I have a high sex lust just like any other normal guy has!”

“’normal’? Great, ‘Lex. That’s just great. You should probably go find a ‘normal’ guy, with a crazy sex lust like you.” John said dryly, but there was a tone of hurt in his voice. He turned around and started walking down the sidewalk.

“Wait, no, John, you know that’s not what I meant!” Alex tried in vain, John was just walking further away from him. Alex jogged to get up beside him and lay a hand on his shoulder to stop him. John turned around to face Alexander, and he was shocked to see that John had actual tears in his eyes. 

“John, I am _so_ sorry. I don’t think you’re weird. I think you are wonderful, smiling, beautiful and I love it when you blush and put flowers in your hair. I can’t imagine how awful you must have felt hearing all that stuff in there, I should’ve told you myself, before. I know that you were, _are_ , upset, and what I said before did nothing to help. But you gotta know, it’s not like that. I’m so happy I’ve found you.”

John was crying now, but he was smiling, so Alex assumed it meant something good.

‘God, Alex,” John said, chuckling a little. “You shouldn’t be the one apologizing. I am so sorry, I totally overreacted. It doesn’t matter who, or how many, you’ve been with in the past, what matters is the future, _our_ future. I just got a little nervous because… yeah…”

“Hey,” Alex took John’s hand, “I already told you I don’t care about that, and I’ll tell you again if you want me to.” John smiled and pressed a kiss to his cheek, and they walked together, hand in hand, back to John’s flat.

 


	9. a PROPER vegetarian MEAL

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told you the updates would continue to come!  
> Also, this is the first official day of SUMMER VACATION WHOOP WHOOP!!!! In my country at least, I know most other countries already got free weeks/days ago. But im still so happy though!!
> 
> It probably also means i'll have more time for writing, maybe I'll even finish the storie before im going back to school!
> 
> Anyway, heres the new chapter, hope you enjoy!

**From My Alexander**

Hey sweetie<3

 

**From John <3**

Hey peaches

Waddup?

 

**From Peaches**

do you know what day it is today?

 

**From Sweetie <3**

... Saturday

 

**From Peaches**

no

I mean yes

But no, that’s not what I meant

You will have to be a little more specific

 

**From Sweety <3**

So… like… April 7th?

 

**From Peaches**

I guess that was more specific

But also not what I meant

 

**From Sweetie <3**

…

You gotta help me here

 

**From Peaches**

I’m so disappointed in you babe

I thought we were meant to be

 

**From Sweetie <3**

Now you are really confusing me

What does this have to do with the date??

 

**From Peaches**

It’s our one month anniversary!!!

 

**From Sweetie <3**

Nooooooo

I cant belive I forgot!

I am so sorrryy!!

 

**From Peaches**

Its alright

I just cant believe I remembered

I always forget important things like that

 

**From Sweetie <3**

I feel so bad I cant believe I forgoy

*forgoy

*forgot, dammit

 

**From Peaches**

No need to feel bad

I still feel bad for not giving you a proper vegetarian meal

 

**From Sweetie <3**

Alex… I eat vegetarian meals all the time

 

**From Peaches**

Babe, I’ve seen where you live

Im talking a PROPER vegetarian MEAL

 

**From Sweetie <3**

…

Where are you getting with this?

 

**From Peaches**

You working today?

Stupid question

You always work

WHAT I MEANT WAS

When do you get off from work today?

 

**From Sweetie <3**

5 pm from the flower shop

 

**From Peaches**

Can you be at my house at 6? 

 

**From Sweetie <3**

Yeah I can do that

You gonna cook for me?<3

 

**From Peaches**

Yup

I’ve never tried vegetarian before

Most of my meals are spicy meat

Or you know

Nothing

I forget to eat sometimes

 

**From Sweetie <3**

Baby girl that s not healthy

 

**From Peaches**

I know I know

But don’t sweat it

Its not like big meals

Just

Food

BACK TO THE POINT 

 

**From Sweetie <3**

Okay

Your place at 6? Got it

 

**From Peaches**

I’ll see you there babe ;)

  

Alex closed his conversation with John and started googling good vegetarian recipes. He had no idea what John liked. Alex came across several delicious looking spicy dishes, like, black bean curry, spicy cauliflower, sweet potato and lentil dhan, but he didn’t know how john tackled spicy stuff. At last, he settled on a mushroom, spinach and broccoli risotto. It sounded fancy and looked delicious. He made quick shopping list and sent it to Laf and Herc.

 

**From Pocahamilton**

Hey, could you guys do me a favor and

pick up these things on your way home?

Also be out of the apartment tonight

 

**From Greek God**

Uuhhhh whatcha doing?

 

**From Lafrench**

Wait

Is this recipe…

VEGETARIAN???

 

**From Greek God**

WHAT

 

**From Lafrench**

ALEXANDRE MON AMI ARE YOU ALRIGHT

WHAT HAPPENED

 

**From Greek God**

NUH UH LAF THIS ISNT ALEX

WHATS HAPPENING

ARE WE GETTN INVADED BY ALIENS

ARE W ALL GONNA DIE

 

  **From Pocahamilton**

I tend to believe you are right,

since you know how to spell to “are”

 

**From Lafrench**

And he is back

 

**From Greek God**

A pity I was starting to like the “non-sassy health nut alex”

I guess u wil b startin 2 eat meat again soon

 

  **From Pocahamilton**

Seriously you guys, stop the teasing

It isn’t for me its for John

 

**From Lafrench**

Aawww are you cooking your boyfriend dinner?

<33

 

  **From Pocahamilton**

He’s not my boyfriend

At least not yet

At least I don’t think so

 

**From Lafrench**

Whatever you say ;)

 

  **From Greek God**

We knw u just want us out of the apartment so u can get some ;)

 

  **From Pocahamilton**

Guys, he is demi, he wants to take it slow

 

**From Greek God**

I was talkn bout vegetarian food, what u all got on ur minds?

  

**From Pocahamilton**

…

 

  **From Lafrench**

Don’t worry lapin

We will get your stuff

  

**From Pocahamilton**

JUST BECAUSE I MAKE VEGGIE FOOD FOR MY BF

IT DOESN’T MEAN IM A RABBIT LAF

 

Turned out vegetarian risotto was really fucking hard to make. Alex wasn’t a bad cook, per se, he was actually a really good cook, but he just rarely went outside of his normal Caribbean, Latino, spicy food. He rarely tested his limits, which was exactly what he did here. But this needed to be perfect. This was John. Alex really wanted to show his interest in Johns personality and how much he supported his choices.

 As he burned the onions for the second time, he started to regret his haste in getting Laf and Herc out of the apartment, because Herc was a really freaking great cook. He cursed as he burned his hand on the hot pan and threw out the onions. He was running low on onions and patience. Just a second, he considered dropping all of it and order a pizza. But just that second, the doorbell rang.

 “Shit,” he muttered, as he poured the third portion of onions on the pan, which he had forgotten to put oil on. “Just a second!” He yelled in the direction of the door without taking his eyes of the pan. He quickly found the olive oil and poured a generous amount on. He stirred in it a couple of seconds and then turned down the heat to get to the door.

 “Hey!”

Johns bright smile was an instant boost to his mood. Alex took a second to take in his beautiful figure. His hair was pulled up in a neat bun, much prettier than the ones Alex usually wore, and there was a little crown of flowers in different shades of purple and a few white ones. His t-shirt was white with a little text that said “Pride!” in rainbow letters over his right breast. He wore a pair of good looking, black and ripped skinny jeans. He looked really good, that was the best Alex’ mind could come up with at the moment.

“Is it six already?” Alex asked.

 “Oh, no, I just,” John looked down, “I just got off a little earlier, you know, so I Just thought I would come early, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t— “

 “No, no! Geez John, it’s alright,” Alex laughed a little, “I was just worried the food wouldn’t be ready, is all.”

 Alex stepped aside and gestured for John to step in. As John took a few steps in, he pulled a small flower bouquet. “I know it’s a little cheesy,” John scratched his neck, “but I thought, I might as well bring them.”

 Alex took the bouquet and eyed it. It was very classy, but still fancy, like the one Alex had bought the first time he stepped into the store.

 “It’s like—“

 “Like when we first met, I know.” John said. “I thought it might be fitting on our anniversary.”

 “Oh sweetheart.” Alex bend down a little to kiss John’s cheek. “I love it. I’m just gonna find a vase.”

Alex opened one of their kitchen cabinets and pulled out a small vase made of marble that Lafayette had brought from France. He filled it half up with water and placed it in the middle of the table. As he sat it down, he noticed that besides a couple of books, there was nothing on the table.

“Hey John, would you mind setting th- _FUCK!”_

Alex ran over to the stove as his eyes caught the onions. John flinched a little at the sudden yell and turned around from where he had been looking out the window.

“What’s happening?” He asked confused. Alex didn’t even have time to answer, he was busy tryin’ to scrape off the burned onion on the pan. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, _fuuuuck._ ”

Again, John flinched a little at the rapid use of curse words.

“Baby girl, what’s happening?” John hurried over to Alex.

“I burned those damned onions. _Again._ ”

John chuckled. “Here. Let me do it.” John tried to take over the pan, but Alex blocked his way.

“No, no. I can handle this, I just need to concentrate. Can you please set the table, sweetie?”

 John nodded and looked through the drawers until he found the plates. Alex cursed some more as he burned his finger again. And finally, _finally,_ the food was ready. Alex poured it all over in a big ceramic bowl.

“Wait,” John grabbed Alex’ hand, as he was about to lift the food to the table. “What is this?” John looked at the burn marks which had now become blisters.

“Oh, the burns? They’re nothing, I just burned my hand while cooking.” John gave Alex a look.

“Have you at least treated it? Held it under cold water?”

“Ppffffff, not really…” John gave him another look before practically dragging him to the sink. “Joooohn. The food is gonna get cold! I spend hours making it, I do not wanna enjoy it cold!”

“The food is steaming hot Alex, I think it can handle 5 minutes without getting cold.” John turned on the cold water, and Alex winced a little as it hit his burn marks. “Can you just hold it here? Make sure every mark gets cold water over it.” Alex shifted his hand a little back and forth so every mark got cooled down. John rummaged a little through the drawers and cabinets until he pulled out a honeybear.

“Here.” John turned the water off and carefully wrapped Alex’ hand in a dishtowel. When it had dried off, he unwrapped it and opened the honey. He squeezed it and poured a little on his own index finger. He then took Alex’ hand and carefully smeared a layer of honey on every burn mark, all while Alex observed every careful, gentle movement John made to not hurt Alex. When he was done, John lifted his finger to his mouth and sucked the leftovers off of it, and Alex thought that the only thing that could be sexier, was if Alex was the one who got to lick it off- no. Stop it Alex. Don’t. Doooooon’t. This is not the time to have sexual thoughts, he reminded himself.

John looked up at him through his lashes as he pulled his finger out of his mouth. “Shall we eat?” He asked as if the most sexual thing hadn’t just happened.

“Uhm, yeah, sure.” Alex said a little dazzled.

Alex poured a portion to each of the. “Oh! Wait, I almost forgot.” Alex disappeared into the living room and came back with two candles and a lighter. He placed them on the table between them lighted them up.

“Tadaa!”

“Wow!” John laughed. “Very romantic!”

“Yup, that’s me. Mr. Romantic.”

John laughed some more and Alex was pleased to know that he was the cause of that.

“You gotta show me more of that side of you.” John teased.

“I’ll see what I can do.” Alex said with a, a little daring, seductive smirk, but it seemed to go unnoticed by John. He just smiled and started picking at his food. Alex didn’t get to dwell too much on that, when John got a good-looking bite up on his fork. As it passed his lips and went into his mouth he _honest to God moaned._ Alex tried, really tried, not to react on that and just laughed and talked: “I take that as a sign for it to taste good.” Alex chuckled.

John nodded, mouth to full to speak. As soon as he had swallowed he spoke: “Alex. This is the most delicious meal I’ve had in two months.”

“Well, I’m glad to know that my burned hand was worth it.”

John smiled at him with rice falling from his lips down on his plate. He practically had to lean across the table to prevent from it falling into his lap. They talked, they laughed, they had a great time together. Alex thought he had made too much food, but John ate it happily, and he himself had skipped lunch so they ate till the last rice corn.

“So…” Alex said when they had finished. “You wanna… Watch a movie or somethin’?”

“Sure.” John nodded. “Should we clean the dishes first?”

“Nah. I’ll take it tomorrow.”

They had snuggled up on the couch, John under Alex’ arm, head resting on his chest, and Alex with the remote in his other hand. 

“Do ya have Netflix or someth’n’?” John asked. He was always so careful to filter his accent, never let it through, but when he got tired? There wasn’t much he could do. It was somehow already past 10 PM, and John had been working all day.

“Mmm…” Alex hummed.

“Well, whatcha wanna watch?” 

“A Disney classic? It’s always a nice way to end the evening.” Alex suggested.

John gasped with excitement. “Can we watch Lady and the Tramp?” He asked in the smallest, cutest voice. Alex quickly found and started the movie and they snuggled up even closer.

About halfway through the movie John fell asleep, and Alex could hear his soft snores. Alex smiled and kissed his forehead gently and nuzzled his hair, took in the nice smell of his shampoo. It was in this peaceful moment that the door slammed up and in stumbled no other than Hercules and Lafayette tangled in his other arms, lips against lips. John stirred a little in Alex’ arms and Alex made all kinds of motions to get the attention of his two best friends to _shut the fuck up._ Alex was really happy that they had gotten their shit together, he really was, _but now was not the goddamn time!_ Not when it was going so well for Alex himself! He finally just grabbed a pillow and threw it at the back of Herc’s head. This seemed to get their attention. Herc let out a little “Hmph!” into Lafayette’s mouth as the pillow hit him.

“Ah! _Mon ami_! I did not know you were still here!” Lafayette exclaimed with great enthusiasm. Alex shushed him and gestured to the sleeping John in his arms. Lafayette’s mouth made an ‘o’ shape.

“Could you keep it down?!” Alex whisper shouted at them.

“Ah… Sorry…” Lafayette said. 

“We’ll disappear now.” Hercules said, grabbed Laf by his tie, and together they moved into Herc’s room and slammed the door after them. Alex took in a sharp, deep breath of annoyance aimed at his two friends. John mad a little sleepy sound and slowly lifted his head from Alex’ chest. He looked around a little dazed, blinked a couple of times, until his look fell on Alex.

“Hey there sweetie.” Alex smiled.

“Hey baby girl.” Johns voice was a little husky with sleep. “Did I sleep for long?”

“No, only half an hour or so. It’s half past 11.”

“What? Already? I need to go home…”

“At this hour? I don’t think so. You can sleep her, I’ll take the couch.”

“What? No, peaches, you don’t need to, this is your house, I’ll just walk home.”

“I already told you. Not at this hour. It does not stand to discussion, this is my apartment, and I can sleep in my bed every other night I want. I’ve never tried sleeping on this couch, I want to know how good a bed it can make.” That wasn’t really the truth, Alex had passed out on the couch many times from all-nighters, studying.

“… Okay then.” John said and yawned. Alex chuckled. “I didn’t bring anything… Toothbrush, pajamas… you know.”

“You can borrow a pair of pajama pants and a toothbrush in the morning.”

John nodded. He looked very tired. Alex made sure that John was snuggled tight and comfortable in his bed before readying the couch for himself. John looked so peaceful while sleeping. The slow rise and fall of his chest, the little part of his lips, his ruffled hair which Alex had carefully picked the flowers out of and released from the bun.

  

Alex lay on the couch a little uncomfortably. It was only made for two persons, and even for a short guy like Alex, it was hard to stretch on it. He had to lie crumbled together like a tiny ball. He missed the warmth of his bed and comfy of his comforter. It was late at night when he was awoken by a warm, small body joining him on the couch and cuddling up to him.

“Alex?” Johns small voice asked. 

“Mmm?” Alex said, voice too heavy to form real words.

“I woke up… Won’t you come to bed?”

“What? Nah, I’m fine here with the couch.”

“But… Wouldn’t you rather sleep in your bed?”

“I told you John, It’s fine. I want you to have the bed, you shouldn’t sleep on the couch.” Alex voice was deep and raspy for just have awoken. John’s on the other hand, sounded like he had ben awake for quite some time…

“But… We can both sleep in the bed.”

Alex hesitated. “I don’t want to do anything to make you uncomfortable.”

“You’re not.” 

“Well… Okay. If you are sure…”

John nodded and took Alex by the hand and led him to the bed. Alex let out a sigh as he lay down on the soft mattress with the warmth of John’s body close. Yeah, he could get used to this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are appreciated!


	10. World's best BOYFRIEND!!!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This got 1600 hits?  
> omg thank you so much! Also, how can i first have discovered this now? This means a lot to me, its way more than i ever expected! Thank you so much to every single one of you!

 

When Alex woke again in the morning, John was already gone from his side. Alex assumed that he was used to getting up early to go to work, and maybe he had already left for said work. 

But as Alex rolled out of bed and stepped into the kitchen, John was sitting at the island in conversation with Lafayette, who was cooking eggs at the stove.

“Yeah, it was!” Lafayette laughed at whatever they were talking about.

“Good morning.” Alex grumbled.

“Good morning, _petit lion_!” Lafayette said and handed him a big mug full of coffee.

“You’re a literal saint Laf.” Alex accepted the mug, greedily.

“Our little Alex does not function well if he does not get his coffee first thing in the morning.” Lafayette informed John who nodded and sipped of his own mug.

“Where’s Herc?” Alex asked.

“Still in bed.” Laf sing-songed for some reason.

Alex smirked. “Did y’all get some last night?”

“Oh yeah. We, how you say, got a lot.”

“You don’t say that.” Alex sat down across from John.

“Well, I do. How about you, huh?” Laf winked, and though Alex wasn’t a particularly observant person, his eyes didn’t miss the way John squirmed uncomfortably. Alex just gave Laf a look. He knew this was a touchy subject. Laf looked guilty for a second, but, thankfully, before he got to say anything, Hercules stepped into the kitchen.

“ _Mon amour!_ How happy I am to see you!” Lafayette exclaimed excitedly. Hercules had a serious case of post-sex morning hair. That didn’t stop Lafayette from praising him to the skies. “Look how beautiful you are! This is my boyfriend; can you believe it?” He asked John and Alex as a side comment. Herc just grumbled. Much like Alex, he wasn’t really a morning person. “Do not be a grumbling grumpy with me.” Laf pouted. That made Herc smile. He gave Laf a quick peck on the lips, but, since it was Laf, it quickly developed into a heavy make out session.

“Oh, well. I should probably get going anyway.” John stood up.

“Oh, wait, are you sure? I wouldn’t mind if you stayed…”

“No, it’s fine. I should… Get to work.” John smiled and took his stuff. He had already changed to his own clothes and just had the hair accessories Alex had combed out last night. Alex followed John to the door. “Okay. I’ll see ya, baby girl.” John leaned forward and kissed Alex’ nose.

“Yeah. See ya.” Alex mumbled.

Alex carefully closed the door behind John and then turned to Laf and Herc, who were still going at it.

“Idiots!” He almost yelled. They broke apart and looked at him a little surprised. “You! You and your disgusting, sloppy, boyfriend scarring, make out session! Did you even see what you did to him? He was totally uncomfortably! How can you even be so ruthless!”

“…What?” Herc asked dumbly.

“You know he gets uncomfortable in such situations.”

“Oh yeah. Man, I’m sorry, I totally forgot. He’s ace, like Angie, right?”

“Yes. Uhm, no. He’s demi, at least that’s what he said.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean,” Alex scratched his neck, “I don’t know. Forget it. Forget everything.” Alex walked into his room and flopped down on the bed. He could still smell John on the pillow. He shot off a quick text.

 

**From Baby Girl**

Can I ask something? It may be a little private…

  

**From Sweetie <3**

Shoot

 

**From Baby Girl**

How did you know you were demi?

  

**From Sweetie <3**

Oh

Well its actually a funny story

It was in middle school I was probably 14

I had never really given the whole sexuality thing a thought

Then one day two boys were talking and they said:

“demisexual boys are such pussys. When I see a hot chick

I wanna rip her clothes off and screw her wide away”

And other terrible, homophobic, sexist, racist things.

I never knew much about lgbt, living in SC and all that

But in that moment I thought:

Well, I don’t want to rip the clothes off a hot chick.

Holy shit I’m gay

But I don’t want rip off the clothes off a hot dude either

And then I realized I was probably demi

 

**From Baby Girl**

Wow

Okay I litherallt cant stoop fiuvcking laughing

Im sorry

Okay

But how do you know you’re not ace?

 

**From Sweetie <3**

I just know

Ive had sexual attraction before so I can’t be

It just takes some time okay?

Maybe even more time than most other demis 

 

**From Baby Girl**

Okay

I'm sorry for asking and I'm still 100% fine with taking it slow

  

**From Sweetie <3**

Omg you’re the greatest boyfriend I've ever had

If

If that’s what we are

I mean

  

**From Baby Girl**

Yup that’s what we are omg

*low key freaking out*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little short chapter but i hope you enjoyed! Plz comment! And kudos are appreciated!


	11. the Storm Before the Calm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, another chapter! Thank you for the continueing supporrt!   
> So, this is the long waited alex-is-afraid-of-storms chapter. I really hope you enjoy! thank you for reading!

John tossed his apron on the counter out back and decided he could cash in one of those free drinks he got after 24 hours of work. The Starbucks café was crowded and was buzzing with voices of chatting teenagers, stressed baristas and impatient costumers. The storm was raging outside and everyone was seeking shelter inside the small, warm and, most importantly, _dry_ Starbucks.

There were no seats available, so John sat down at the quiet table at the back meant for employees.

He had just sat down when his phone pinged.

 

**From LafAYeTTE**

Are you working?

 

 **From Laurr** **◕** **_** **◕**

No but I am at starbucks

Figured it would be wise to stay her under the storm

 

**From LafAYeTTe**

You must go to Alex in the apartment

 

 **From Laurr** **◕** **_** **◕**

Why whats happening?

 

John was quick to grab his jacket and bag. He pushed through the crowd and out of the safety of the café into the cold chaos of the storm. It was freezing and he pulled his jacket tighter around him. He walked in the direction of the nearest subway and pulled out his phone.

 

**From LafAYeTTE**

You know about the hurricane in his past so

whenever a storm approaches he gets all panicky

and flashbacks from the island

Normally herc or I am there to comfort him

but we are stuck in the subway

 

John had just reached the stairs for the underground but turned around at Lafayette’s warning. He scanned his surroundings. The traffic also looked awful, but would it be than walk?

 

**From LafAYeTTE**

It gets really bad when he is alone. Hurry.

 

 **From Laurr** **◕** **_** **◕**

omw

 

The only thing louder than the rain was the honks from the cars. John had to think fast. It didn’t look like he would get there anytime soon with a cap, neither with the underground. It took at least an hour to walk there. What was he supposed to do? From every second, Alex could get worse. John didn’t know how bad it got, but clearly, Lafayette was anxious to get him there.

John took a deep breath. He looked to his left, and there, leaning against the big office building, was the old bike he had seen every time he walked this way for the past four days. It was a wonder it hadn’t been stolen yet. If he went through central park, he could make it in less than 30 minutes. It wasn’t safe to bike under a storm, but it was the best he could do.

He took a few long steps, reached for the bike and swung a leg over it and felt… Rebellious. He had never stolen anything ever before, but drastic times call for drastic measures.

 

Meanwhile, Alex had buried himself under the covers on his bed. Another thunderbolt boomed in the air. Alex whimpered and curled up on himself.

The thunder wasn’t the worst part, no. No, that was the rain, crashing against the window, the noise unbearable. The wind, that was also bad. The sounds it made, swooshing.

All memories were coming back to him now. The trees, pulled up from the ground with roots and all, crashing down on one of the cottages. People ran out of it, screaming. Alex was in the middle of the street, watching everything. It wasn’t the safest place to be, the exact opposite actually, but at this point, he didn’t really care if he lived or died. It's not like it could get any darker than now. If he died, he would at least be reunited with his mother. He wished she were here, to hold him, talk to him, sooth him. He was alone. He was alone. _He was alone._

But then he wasn’t. something was shifting next to him on the mattress. A sound in the distant.

The sheets were carefully pulled off him and he could see. “See” was a little much to say, his vision was a little blurry.

He saw the outline of a face. Face? Was that what it was? Maybe it was Jesus, it sure looked like him. Tan skin, long, dark, curly hair, surrounded by bright light. He had finally died and come to Heaven. Wait no, that couldn’t be. Alex was positive, that when he died, he would go to Hell.

The person cupped Alex’s face with their hand. It was ice cold and Alex flinched away.

“Alex?”

Alex blinked a couple of times and his vision cleared.

“John?” He looked around. He was in their apartment, their home. He wasn’t on the island, and there wasn’t any storm.

Thunder boomed.

Okay, there was a storm.

Alex whimpered and made to pull the sheet over his head again, but was caught at the wrist.

“John?” He said again. “You’re soaking wet.”

And he really was. His hair was hanging loose and dripping down his shoulders. He was still wearing his outerwear, a beige coat and a pair of vans. All of it soaked, and there were slowly forming a puddle on the ground where he was kneeling.

John just smiled. “How are you feeling?”

Alex decided not to answer and just rubbed his face instead, trying to block out the rain. As his hand touched his cheeks, there was something wet. He had been crying. Fuck, John could not see him like this. He turned around just as there was another thunder crack. He closed his eyes, curled in on himself and the island started to form again.

“Hey Alex, come on, look at me, you have to keep your eyes open.”

John’s voice pulled him out again and he turned around to look at him. John was rummaging for something in his bag. It took a couple of seconds before he pulled out a pair of headphones and his phone. He plugged it in and put the headphones over Alex’s ears, that were instantly filled with the sweet, sweet sound of Beyoncé. He couldn’t hear the rain, and the thunder was distant. He was safe. He was not alone.

John spoke but no sound came out.

“What?!” Ale said, but his own voice was muffled.

John covered his own face, and, even though he couldn’t hear it, Alex knew he was laughing. John shushed him, because apparently, he was being loud, and pulled one of the speakers away from Alex’s ear.

“I’m gonna take a shower if that’s alright. Are you fine?”

Alex nodded. John smiled and turned around. Right before he stepped out of the room Alex spoke: “And John?” John looked over his shoulder. “Thank you,” Alex said sincerely.

John smiled. “You’re welcome baby girl.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Plz comment and leave kudos!<3


	12. That Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry I haven't updated! I've been on holiday for the last 2 (almost 3) weeks, and I thought I would be able to get some writing done and explain why I wouldn't update, but I've had way less time than I expected... But here is the new chapter! I hope you enjoy!!!

When John got out of the shower 10 minutes later he borrowed a pair of Alex’s sweatpants and t-shirt as a replacement for his wet clothes.

The first thing he did was to check in on Alex. His tears had dried and he looked much better overall.

“Hey.” John was about to kneel next to Alex on the bed but was stopped when his toes got in contact with the cold puddle he had made earlier. He should clean that up later. Instead, he sat at the edge of the bed and touched Alex’s cheek. Alex smiled up at him.

“Everything’s okay?” He asked. Alex furrowed his brows and looked questioning up at him. He couldn’t hear John over the music and was about to take off the headphones, but John stopped him by the wrist. With the storm still raging, he didn’t want Alex to get affected by it. Instead, he looked in his bag again and found his sketchbook and pencils. He started writing:

 

_Are you feeling better?_

Alex nodded.

 

_Good. I think the storm is wearing out, it should be over soon. Do you want me to cook something for you?_

Alex shook his head.

 

_Ok, I'm gonna do that anyway. Unless it's bc you would rather have me to stay with you?_

Alex shrugged.

 

He didn’t really know what he could get out of that. If just Alex would be a little clearer with his answers.

 

_I'll clean the floor and then lay with you for a little, ok?_

 

John put down his pen and paper. He walked into the kitchen and grabbed a towel to mop the floor. He felt Alex’s eyes on him the entire time. When he was done, he simply threw the towel in the corn and crawled up next to Alex, and they snuggled up together. Ten minutes and Alex was asleep. John waited a couple more minutes, watching Alex sleeping peacefully. He untangled himself and walked into the kitchen. He opened the cabinets to see what snacks he could make. It was already evening, maybe he should just make dinner? The storm was almost over. The thunder had stopped long ago, only some wind and moderate rain. For John it was calming. It soothed his nerves to listen to the rain against the roof. He could just close his eyes and take a deep breath. He couldn’t blame Alex, that he felt different though. It was understandable.  

John found a bag of spaghetti and decided that he might as well make dinner. Herc and Laf would probably be home soon.

He rummaged in the fridge to dig out some vegetables.

“Have they ever even heard of veggies in this house?” John mumbled to himself.

H found some carrots, a few tomatoes, a single bell pepper and some garlic. He could work with this. John was an average cook, but also very creative and could make decent dinner out of few ingredients.

He was mixing everything in a bowl, when Alex came in. He didn’t wear his headphones anymore, John had barely noticed, the storm had ended. Alex wrapped his arms around John’s waist from behind and rested his head on his shoulder.

“Hey, baby girl.” John greeted.

“Hey,” Alex said, voice groggy. “Thank you so much. You are amazing. I couldn’t ask for a better boyfriend.”

John turned his head and looked at Alex. He was so… Perfect. No, he wasn’t. But, to John, he was the most perfect man, he had ever seen.

John slowly leaned forward, hesitated a little, and then closed the distance between their mouths.

The kiss was sweet, gentle, Alex thought. Nothing like he had ever kissed before. Johns mouth was soft, sweet, fragile, and in that moment, Alex felt some kind of protectiveness for John. John pulled back way too soon, in Alex’s opinion. His lips were a little pink and puffed. A light blush covered his cheeks.

“Wow.” Alex said.

John giggled. “That’s all you have to say?”

“Well, I'm sorry if I am a little at a loss for words after being absolutely blown away by our amazing first kiss, which, by the way, came with no warning at all!”

“You? A loss for words? Never!”

“Stop doing that!” Alex laughed.

“Doing what?!”

“…That! Whatever!” Alex laughed and gave John a quick peck on the lips.

“Let me cook now.”

“Right. Sorry.” Alex turned around. He gave John a quick slap on the butt, which earned a chocked gasp.

“Alex!”

“I'm sorry!” Alex laughed. “I couldn’t help myself!”

The door opened and in stormed a wet Lafayette and a wet Hercules.

“Alex! Man, I am so sorry!”

“We got stuck in the sub, as you say!”

“Again, first of all, you don’t say that. And second, it's alright. John was here and he did a great job.” Alex smiled.

Laf let out a relieved breath. “Oh, good. I was scared that he did not know what to do.”

“I didn’t,” John said. “I just improvised.”

“Well, you sure are a good improviser.” Alex gave John a reassuring smile which was returned.

“Dude, this smells great! I haven’t eaten all day.” Herc said and walked over to look at the food.

“It's ready as soon as someone sets the table.” It was more of a command than a statement, and in a second the three other men were at it, finding plates and cutlery. A routine they had done many times before. Soon, the three was seated at the table, patiently waiting for John to come with the food. Laf delightedly clapped his hands when the food were placed in the middle of the table.”

“ _bon appétit_!”

And they were over the food like hungry wolfs.

“God, this is amazing!” Alex said around a mouthful of food.

“Oh, _mon dieu!_ ”

“Bro… this is the best vegetarian pasta I've ever had.”

“How much vegetarian pasta have you had?” John asked skeptically.

“… Just this. But that’s not the point. I was actually complimenting you.”

“Yes, thank you. All of you.”

“Are you gonna stay the night?” Alex asked. “You know, you are welcome to. Always.”

“I don’t think so. Did you know I stole a bike to get here?”

Alex, who was just chewing a new mouthful food, started violently coughing, almost getting choked on his food, so Herc had to hit on his back.

Laf’s mouth fell agape and he looked he could have dropped his fork.

“You… _Stole a bike_?” Alex asked as soon as he came to his senses.

“I mean, yeah…” John said a little dazzled over their reactions. “It was the fastest way to get here.”

“I am sorry, _mon ami,_ I do not think Alex phrased that correctly,” Lafayette said. “What he meant was: _YOU_ stole a bike?!”

“Yeah? Why are y’all so surprised?”

“Well, because it's _you._ The sweet, precious little southern boy. You would never steal a bike!” Alex said.

John was a little stunned by their words. “Well, I did. I don’t see why y’all think that’s so unrealistic.” He said a little offended and crossed his arms.

“Try to be tough all you want, my dude, but we all know, you are soft on the inside.” Herc chuckled.

“Oh yeah, like you, mister I-sew-dresses-for-teddy-bears!” John said in a moment of annoyance. He could be bad. He hit a fucking man at a restaurant for being homophobic, for God’s sake!

Hercules leaned across the table and pointed a finger at John. “That was one time.” He said dangerously low.

“The new sassy John... I must admit I like it.” Alex said smugly.

“It doesn’t matter what you like, you won’t be getting any, anyway.” John said coldly.

“Ooohhh!” Laf said and held his hands up. “That fire!”

“It's called a fucking burn, you dumb French.” John venomously. Laf pouted.

“No one is safe!” Herc called.

“Damn right.” John said and directed his attention to all of them. “And I expect _you_ to clean the kitchen, like real gentlemen would do where I come from, or else there will be no dessert.”

“You got a special dessert for me, honey?” Alex asked with nothing but mischief in his voice.

“Do I need to repeat myself?” John quirked his eyebrows.

“Okay, I'm sorry!” They all got up from their seats except John.

“ _Mom!_ ” Alex added over his shoulder, and John playfully smacked out after him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos are my motivation!!!!!!!!


	13. Introducing Theo Jr.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cant believe i am not updating this regularly, I apologize, i am so sorry. Like that wasnt bad enough, i have not been able to get ao3 to work!!!!  
> idk whats happening, when i paste the text there is like no space, no sections it's just one giant line of text. oh well.  
> idk when the next chapter will be up, i am having a REALLY HARD TIME WRITING IT. Hopefully, it won't be too long.  
> Thank you for sticking along!

John took the bike back to the office building and placed it where he had first taken it, hoping the owner hadn’t noticed it's absence. Whatever.

He was in a bad mood today, one of those moods that had no reason to be there, but still was, and ruined your day and made all of your friends hate you because of that one day you were in a shitty mood without any reason.

John was lucky that he didn’t have any friends to hate him.  
Oh wait, that was a lie.

John thought back to his life a couple of months ago and how it had all changed.

“Wow.” He mumbled to himself. Before, he had Maria and to some extension Eliza as well, but now? He had a whole fucking circle of friends.

He felt like his life finally had begun. All those years, being trapped with a father that never wanted him for who he was and being trapped in the closet. 

He was out, he was proud, he was free, he had a hot boyfriend and friends.

“Laurens!”

John winced at the sharp call of his name, as soon as he stepped into Starbucks. The store was almost empty, only a small group of mixed teens were seated in the corner.

“You’re late.” Charles Lee, John’s supervisor, spat at him.

“I’m sorry, I was staying at another apartment, I forgot the distance,” John mumbled while stepping behind the counter. While gathering his hair in a ponytail, he was surprised by being hit directly in the face with his apron. It fell to the ground and he looked up, shocked, and was met with Charles’ ugly rat face, John thought unkindly. He really didn’t like Charles, he was that kind of gay everyone avoided, and smack talked everyone and always tried to make John say something mean behind other people’s backs. 

“I don’t take excuses. I am superior to you, I could fire you on the spot.”

Both John and Charles knew that he actually didn’t hold the power to fire John, he just liked to pretend to hold all the power.

“Next time you decide to hold a sleepover with your boyfriend, maybe you could hold back on the drinking, and not turn in hangover?” Charles smirked.

“What?” John spluttered. “We didn’t drink, I’m not hangover!”

“Geez, Laurens, I know. That sweet little boy from the south could neeever do anything daddy wouldn’t approve of.” Why did people keep calling him that? “But wait. Isn't it exactly ‘who’ you do, daddy doesn’t approve of?” Charles tapped his chin.

John burned with anger, but he really didn’t have the power to speak back to Charles. But God, how he would love to.

“But whatever.” Charles disappeared out in the back and left the almost empty café to John. Nothing happened for a while, one of the teens walked up and bought a couple of cookies, but no one else showed up, and John used most of the time sketching his surroundings. 

Once the bell rang, and John looked up.

“Aaron Burr!” He said as the short, bald man stepped in. 

“Hello, John.”

Burr had probably been the member of the squad, John had talked the least with. Not because he didn’t like him, Burr was just always busy, and when you finally were talking with him, he seemed elsewhere. 

“You must be Theodosia,” John said to a pretty girl, who walked beside Aaron. “I don’t think I've had the pleasure of meeting you.” He said and shook her hand. She was very pretty, golden skin on the darker side, blond died dreadlocks gathered in a pile on her head and a nose ring, unlike Angelicas, in between her nostrils.

“And you are John Laurens. I've heard a lot about you.” Her smile was very big and took all the attention from her face.

“Hopefully good things,” he joked, and they laughed a little.   
After they ordered, Aaron sat down at a table and opened his laptop, while Theodosia decided to stay and chat with John.

“How are you guys doing?” John asked. He knew it was a lame way to start a conversation, but what else was he supposed to do?

Theo sighed. “Just, like, normal I suppose.”

“… You don’t sound like ‘just normal’. Is something wrong?” John asked concerned.  
“Well, maybe it's because I'm pregnant.”

John dropped the Frappuccino he was making and it splattered all over the floor.  
“Shit, I'm sorry!” Theo said and covered her mouth.

“It's alright.” John quickly grabbed a towel and mopped it up, before it got too disgusting. “Are you actually serious?” He said with a lowered voice. “Does he know?”

She shook her head. “I can’t. I just can’t tell him. He is so stressed right now, I can’t burden him with this.”

John didn’t know why Theodosia chose to tell him, a man she had just met, about this, but he wasn’t about to let her down or expose her. 

“How long in?”

“A couple of weeks… I took a test almost two weeks ago.”

“Theo, you have to tell him… It will probably start showing soon, unless you… don’t want to…”

“No! I’m going to keep it.” She said firmly. John nodded. “But I just can’t tell him.”

“What exactly are you afraid of? Do you think he’s gonna leave you?”

“God no. I Mean. I don’t think so. No, no he is not. I love him and he loves me.”

“Then there is no way around. Look.” John laid his hand over hers. “I know this isn't easy. But God, I've only had a few conversations with Aaron, and most of them he was just talking about you. He loves you. And he’s not gonna blame you for anything, I mean, it takes two to tango, right?”

She smiled a little. “I know. I knew all of what you said, but I just think I needed someone to say it out loud. Thank you, John.” Her smile was so heartwarming and sincere. John saw clear why Burr loved her.

“JOHN! I hope I am not seeing you on your lazy feet when there are customers waiting!” John, startled by the sudden yell, whipped around and stared at Lee’s ugly face. He handed Theodosia their drinks and she thanked him.

“I’m sorry about that.” She whispered and made a face in Charles’ direction.

“Don’t be. Really. If you weren’t here, he would just have found another way to yell at me.

When Theo had joined Burr, Charles started a long tirade about the spilled drink.

“That will be withdrawn from your payment!”

John just ignored him and started cleaning the floor properly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos keep me motivated!!! <33


	14. Unexpected Events

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yayyyy another chapter!  
> I had to rewrite this, bc it was god awful before. Im satisfied with it now!
> 
> and guess what, this week i am going on a trip to Czech Republic with my friends!! I am so excited!!
> 
> But that also means you wont be hearing from me...
> 
> If you are interested, ill be posting pictures on my Tumblr [@selmiserables](https://selmiserables.tumblr.com/)

It got busier later on the day. John barely got a second between filling drinks, taking orders and getting shouted at by Lee. Burr and Theo still sat in the corner after two hours, smiling at each other and quietly chatting. 

Angelica and Eliza had walked in a couple of minutes ago and had joined their conversation. They hadn’t ordered anything yet but would probably walk up to John soon enough. His shift ended in less than an hour and he couldn’t _wait_ to get out of this hellhole. 

“Hey, John!” 

John looked up. Eliza and Angelica smiled at him from the other side of the desk, pretty as ever.

“Hey, girls. What can I do for you?”

“A chai latte and an iced green tea. Two muffins, one blueberry, one chocolate.” Angelica ordered for both. She clearly knew her sisters well. Or maybe they just went too much on Starbucks. 

“Are you meeting with Theo and Aaron?” John asked as he turned around to make drinks. He was grateful that none of them had those crazy, long, special orders. 

“Yeah, with Theo. I had some things to discuss with her about the party next Friday. You should come.”

“A party? I don’t know if I have time…” John lied. It wasn’t because he didn’t want to hang out, except that he didn’t really want to hang out. And maybe he actually didn’t have time, he had absolutely no control over his calendar. And if he did have just a couple of hours off at night, he would like to spend them on sketching or getting caught up on some sleep.

He wanted to spend time with the Schuylers, and with Theo, and with Maria, and with Herc and Laf, and with Burr (if he even went to parties), but right now, everything was just so overwhelming and tiresome. 

“A shame. It's a Schuyler tradition to hold a party when classes end, and I normally don’t invite freshman, not to talk about people who don’t even go to college.”

“Are you sure you don’t have time?” Eliza asked friendly. “You don’t have to stay long, we understand if you're exhausted.” She smiled sweetly at him.

“I'll see if I can make it,” He said. The party was two weeks away, maybe he wouldn’t be so tired after all at that point. John placed the teas on the counter and grabbed the muffins.

“Thank you, John.” Angelicas tone was a little softer now. She smiled carefully at him. “You know, Alex and the boys should be here in a couple of minutes. When does your shift end? Maybe you can join us. If you have time, that is.”

John bit his lip. Felt a little bad for lying before. “Yeah. Sure.” He smiled. They thanked him, took their food and walked over to Theo and Burr’s table.

John sighed and leaned against the counter. Allowed himself to close his eyes for a minute.

“JOHN! _Costumers are waiting._ ” Fuck. Lee. Fuck Lee.

“Could you get off my back for a _second_ , Lee? There are no costumers! No line!” John gestured angrily at the empty space at the other side of the desk. 

“You should watch your tone with me,” Lee said warily. 

“Oh fuck no. I don’t give a flying shit about you anymore. _You're so goddamn stupid_. I'm lowering my IQ just by having this conversation!” John was so frustrated. He could feel the heat in his face and he balled his hands into tight fists.

“You know I could— “

“Fire me. I know you _can't_ fire me. You know that too, for Gods sake, so why do you keep pretending you can? Spare yourself. I quit.” John loosened the apron around his waist. “Right here. Right now.” He tossed it on the counter. The shocked look on Lees face was worth all of it. He just stood there with a raised finger and his mouth open. Frozen in shock. 

He probably hadn’t seen that coming. 

Neither had John.

But he would deal with the consequences later, right now he was glorying in his victory.

John smiled sassily at Lee, turned on his heels and walked in the direction of his friends, who were all staring at him. Even Burr had torn his eyes away from the computer screen.

“So, what about that party?” John dumped down on a seat.

“Yeah…” Angelica said, still processing.

“That was freaking awesome!” Theodosia broke the silence. “The way you looked at him, holy cow, John, that was priceless!” She was like a beaming sun.

“I’ll admit… It did feel really good.” John laughed.

“Are you coming to the party then?” Eliza asked.

“Sure, I have a lot of time I need to fill out now…” And then it suddenly hit John. Shit. He had lost _two jobs_ within just a couple of weeks. What was he gonna do? Theo, the one true saint, noticed his sudden change I demeanor. 

“I’m sure you could get a job in the Garden?” She looked inquiringly at Angelica and Eliza.

Eliza gasped and smiled. “Of course! We are looking for new waiters at the moment. And your coworkers will be way sweeter. Because it's us!”

“Are you serious?” John couldn’t believe it. Eliza nodded excitedly. “You just saved my life.” John breathed out and lay a hand on his heart as the other ones laughed. 

“Your payment will probably be better as well, but you’ll have to work more evening hours,” Angelica informed. 

“That’s fine. That’s all fine. Holy, thank you so much!”

A couple of minutes later, Maria, Alex and Laf walked in.

“CHARLES!” John yelled. “ _Costumers are waiting!_ ” That felt good. Lee had already gathered a thin layer of sweat on his forehead, and he hadn’t even done half the work John did. His distress was so clear, John was more than thrilled.

“John?” Alex looked questioningly. “Aren’t you working?”

“He quit!” Theo said. “Just like that! You should have seen it, it was amazing.” She was very enthusiastic about Lees misery. Probably because she had seen how awful he could be.

Lafayette clapped his hands. “Bravo mon ami!”

Alex gave John a quick kiss on the lips. “I’m so proud of you, honey.”

Maria also gave Eliza a peck on the cheek. “We’re gonna order something to drink.” And they walked up to the counter.

“The biggest Americano I can get,” Alex said. “And… A cinnamon bun. Maria?”

“Just an Iced salted caramel latte. With whipped cream, because I'm not a monster.”

“Peach green tea Teavana and…” Laf inspected the bakery selection.

It was barely 15 seconds before Alex complained. “C’mon Laf, we don’t have all day.” He rolled his eyes.

“I just want a pastry…” Laf pouted.

“He’ll take a Danish,” Alex decided and told Lee.

“But I don’t want a Danish, I want a French!”

“Too fucking late, you should have ordered a croissant, then.”

“I didn’t even get to order anything myself because of you,” Laf mumbled.

Alex rolled his eyes and sat down across from John. “You’ve heard about the party?” He asked. John was just about to answer when his phone started ringing.

“I’m sorry, I’m just gonna take this quick.”

John stood up and walked out on the street to talk privately.

“This is John Laurens.” He spoke into the phone. “Who am I speaking with?”

“Hello, son.”


	15. A Chance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A very very very VERY short chapter here. But the next one is already halfway done and i should have it published before tuesday!!  
> And, obviously, I am back from vacation, and it was so awesome thank you for asking!!

“Father?”

John stood frozen in shock. He hadn’t heard that voice in years, and it brought up memories he would rather forget.

“How are you holding up? Your siblings miss you down here, but I’m sure you’ve had enough work in the big apple.”

“Mhm,” John mumbled. He couldn’t get himself to say anything else. What was happening? Why was he calling? What was the deal?

“I’m staying in New York the next couple of days, I thought we could meet over lunch and talk things through.”

“What things, exactly?” John had to be suspicious. 

“I-… I would really rather talk face to face. I care about you. I want to fund your college expenses, no son of mine should stay on the street without a proper education.”

“So, you want me back because I'm bringing shame to the Laurens family name. Wow, thanks dad, I'm so honored that you accept me for who I am.” Johns voice was all dry.

“Don’t test me, Jack.” John could almost hear the set of Henrys jaw. “I am trying to make things better, here. You're not being a big help.” John sighed. To be honest, he was still in shock. His father was the last person he expected to call, and this was the last thing he expected him to say, and it was hard for him to believe. “Lunch Tuesday. Union Square. I’m looking forward to talk.” And then he hung up.

John sighed, again, and stuck his hands in his pockets. He took deep breaths and looked around.

“Hey, John.” Alex stuck his head outside. “Are you coming?” John nodded. “Are you alright? Who was on the phone?”

“I’m perfect.” John stepped in and gave Alex a kiss on the cheek in passing. “We have a party to plan, right?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comment and leave kudos bc i love you and you are great!!! Also if you like this work of course!!!


	16. This Is Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I said i would publish it before tuesday, and here i am, on a tuesday publishing it. I think that counts as before tuesday right? yes.

Tuesday came too fast. John was still in bed, even though it was 11 am. He just lay there, look flickering between the alarm clock and the window.

11:05

11:13

11:21

John groaned and rolled on his back. He was supposed to meet Henry 12:30, and in order to be there in time, he should take the underground at 12:19. Maybe he should just show up late, or, you know, not at all.

He rolled out of bed and lay on the ground, tangled in the sheets, for a couple more minutes. Then he groaned again and stood up.

What should he wear? Union Square wasn’t all casual, so maybe a shirt and his normal pants. He observed himself in the mirror. His morning hair was all over the place, and he had a little bit of dried drool on his cheek.

He took a cloth and put it under the sink after considering taking a shower and wash his uncontrollable hair. Meh. His father wasn’t worth it. Instead, he wiped his face with the cloth ant brushed his hair thoroughly, which just made it even more frizzy. He sighed and blew a stray of hair out of his face. He ran his hand through it a couple of times, trying to decide what to do with it.

He started braiding half of it in a French braid but stopped mid-way to consider if it was too gay for Henry Laurens. Decided to say screw it and ended up with two French braided pigtails. 

He jumped in his old Burberry patterned sweater and denim pants. Viewed himself in the mirror. He was very satisfied with his looks, it was very… Him. And that was what he wanted his dad to see. He couldn’t change Johns personality, and if that was what he thought of this dinner, then he was very wrong. It was 64 degrees outside and just a little windy, so he wouldn’t need a jacket.

On his walk to the subway, he started to consider what could happen when he saw his father again. Would he get dis-disowned? He thought about his siblings. He missed them so much, he would do almost anything to see them again, to just talk with them on the phone.

In the best scenario, Henry would realize how ignorant he had been and that a parent should never disown or hit their child. He would pay for John’s college funding and John would get to see his siblings. He would come home for thanksgiving, eat a lot of food and then pretend to watch football with his brothers. Like a normal, happy family. He would give Martha advice on boys and help her pick an outfit for dates. Support Henry Jr. through finals and listen to his speech as he graduates on the top of his class. Play Mario Kart with James and lose on purpose. See Mary Eleanor grow through middle and high school. Have a beer with his father on his 21st birthday like a normal father-son relationship. 

John couldn’t stop himself from smiling. But he knew it was a dream, and the chances for the Laurens family to be normal was minimal. 

In the worst scenario, they would meet for lunch and Henry wouldn’t have changed a bit. They would start a fight. John would lose the one chance he had to change it all. He would go back to his exhausting every day, working his ass off for a chance to make it in life. He would miss Martha’s big wedding. Henry's graduation from the finest college in Amerika. Mary’s debut in the fashion world. And whatever James ended up doing, he was sure it was something big to be proud of. 

John shivered as he walked into the train.

He would rather expect nothing of this dinner than everything.

He took the seat right next to the door. He decided it would be best to distract himself.

A young guy, maybe a couple of years older than himself, sat across from him. He was wearing wine red pants with the hems folded up over his ankles, and a white t-shirt with a breast pocket. Furthermore, he was wearing a boater hat, his honey-blond hair falling on his forehead, just over his eyes. In his lap, he was holding a ukulele. 

John met his eye, they were green like his own. He smiled at him, and John carefully smiled back. The guy’s smile got bigger and John saw his teeth, perfect white. He started playing a happy melody on his ukulele, and john had to look away and bite his lip to stop himself from laughing.

Two stops later, the ukulele guy stood up. He walked passed John on his way to the door and slipped a little note into John’s hand. He smiled and gave a tiny wave as he walked out the door. John got a faint blush on his cheeks. He unfolded the note, and read it. It said ukulele guy’s name and his number next to. John pocketed it, not because he was ever gonna call him, but because there wasn’t any trashcan around, and he didn’t want to just throw it.

He got up on his stop and checked his phone. 12:23. Great, he would be there just in time. His stomach turned again. He’d had a distraction in the subway – now he had to face the fears.

When he walked into Union Square Café, his father already sat at their table for two, fiddling with his napkin. He overall looked nervous. He looked up and saw John. He stood up in a rush and knocked into the table. 

“I’m sorry,” he said and put a glass up that had knocked over. “John. You look… Great.” Henry eyed John up and down.

“Thank you,” John said. This was already going better than he expected.

“Please, sit.” Henry gestured at the seat across him. John pulled out the chair and studied the menu. There were a few moments of awkward silence, until the waiter had left with their orders. 

“I know you did not expect this- “

“You can say that.”

“Will you please not interrupt? Thank you.” Henry took a deep breath. John knew he wasn’t really fair. He could see, Henry was trying, but it was so hard for him to believe, to trust.

“Okay. I’ll listen.” Johns expression softened.

“How are you doing?”

“Fine.”

“… Just fine? What are you doing around here to get by?” Henry asked in.

“I have three jobs. Or, at least I had, I quit two of them. The boss was a real jackass.”

“I’m proud of you for standing up to him, then. I want you to keep doing that. You should always stand up to people who disagree with… Who you are.”

“Does that include you, or…?” John crossed his arms and leaned back.

“I've… Been thinking. A lot. I've done some research, hell, I even went to one of those support groups.” Henry chuckled. “But, as I said, I've been thinking about it. And maybe it is not so wrong, for you to be…”

“A homo?”

“Yes. That. God created every human, right? And I don’t think, it was in his will, for a father to hate his son, no matter how he was. Love for one's neighbor, right? Except, here it comes from a father to his son. I am really trying here. And it will maybe take time for me to deal with… This…” Henry gestured at Johns hair. “Maybe I never will. But we miss you. All of us at home. I just want what’s best for you, for my family, and seeing your siblings like they have been, it tears my heart apart.” Henry took a deep breath and held a hand for his mouth.

The waiter interrupted them with their food. 

“Thank you,” John said, barely audible, because Henry looked unable to talk at the moment. He looked completely overwhelmed, and John felt the same. “So… What are you trying to say?”

Henry sighed. “I made a mistake. I should never have disowned you. All I have been able to think about is your mom. I can picture her face right as we sit here. She would have been so disappointed in me. She loved ya with all her heart, and I loved her. But I can't help but feel, I never deserved her love back.”

“She did love you,” John said softly. “I know she did.”

“I want you to be my son again. I’ll pay for college, I’ll give you permission to talk with your siblings all that you want.”

Here John broke down. He lay his head in his arms on the table. This was really happening. When he looked up again his eyes were red and teary.

“I would love that.” He choked out.

“Thank you. Thank you.” His dad said, his eyes were also red now.

They took some time to recover and ate their food in silence. John took a moment to take it all in. He got to go to college. He got to talk with his siblings. He got his family and funding back. What was the catch? There had to be one.

“There, of course, are some things we will have to discuss,” Henry looked at him. “Like what you are going to study.” Ah. There it was.

“I’m sorry father, but I don’t want to study law.” Henry's mouth became a thin line.

“Jack.”

“I know. I wish I could. God, I am so happy for all of this father, but my talents don’t lie in law. I’m simply not good at it, I will end up failing and all your money would have been wasted.”

“I see.” Henry still didn’t look all satisfied. “Where do you mean your talents lie, then?”

“I- “

“You are not going to study art, I hope. And neither social studies. I have my limits, Jack.”

“I understand… Marine biology, maybe. Or medicine.”

“Marine biology… Okay. I accept. Do we have a deal, then? You will start college next season. I demand, you will be home for thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. Can you handle that?”

John nodded. If that was the terms, he would happily agree. Henry reached his hand across the table to be shaken. While they waited for the bill, Henry asked a couple more questions about his life.

“Have you found any friends? Have you been in good company?”

“Yes. You know Philip Schuyler? His daughters are very delightful. I… I’ve also gotten a boyfriend.”

Henry tensed a little. But he nodded.

“His name is Alex…” John carefully kept going. “Hamilton. He is very smart. _He_ is actually studying law.” The waiter came with their bill.

“I’m glad to see you have a good type.” Henry’s smile was a little tight. He lay some cash on the table, and when John offered to split the bill, he refused. 

“I’m an adult. I can pay my bills,” John joked.

“Not when you don’t have to.” Henry pocketed his wallet and stood. “Lesson number one, Jack. If other people offer you free things, accept with a smile and a polite comment. That will be useful.”

When they stood outside, Henry asked where he lived, and if he would rather live in a student apartment on campus. John said he would figure it out with his friends, meaning Alex. They stood in a couple of awkward moments, not knowing if to hug or shake hands. At last, Henry stepped forward and gave John a hug and a clap on the back.

“I’m happy that you accepted my dinner.”

“Me too.” 

“I’m proud of you already.”

And so their paths separated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> commennnnnntttttt pleeeeeaaaseee or leav kudooooos tysmmmmmm


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good! Job! Selma! you! have! gotten! nothing! done!

“Are you kidding me?”

“No.” John was speaking with Alex on the phone. He had called as soon as he got home to tell him about the meeting.

“But, why didn’t you tell me about it before? Why wait until after?” Alex asked.

“I don’t know. I guess I just… Didn’t want your or any other’s reaction before I figured out my own.”

“Okay. I respect that. So, you’re going to college now, huh? Better start writing that application. Oh, and are you gonna quit the job in the flower shop?”

John thought a little about it. The flower shop held a special place in his heart. It was his first job. He met his first friends there. He met Alex there. But there wasn’t a need for it anymore, right? It would be inconvenient to keep, it was a good distance from campus. “I guess I am,” he said but didn’t feel all right about it. “And Alex?”

“Yeah?”

“You know, I should probably find a new place to live when the semester begins… So, in a couple of months, I thought that maybe. Well. Since I know Laf and Herc know, and we’ve been together for longer, I thought, if you don’t think it's too early, of course, maybe it is, it was a stupid idea anyway…” John shut up. He hadn’t even asked the question.

“Reading in between the lines, it sounds like you want to move in.” Thank God, John had such a smart boyfriend.

“Yes! That’s it.” John said a little too loud. “So, uh,” he said with dropped voice. “What do you think?”

“To have my beautiful boyfriend in a room right next to mine, or possibly, sleeping in the same bed as me every night, cooking breakfast for me, making me take a break from work, kissing me, just being there? I don’t know… It sounds kinda awful.”

“… Uh…”

“It's called sarcasm. You know, when you say things that you don’t mean in a different tone. It's called sarcasm. That’s what I just did.”

“Oh…”

“Jesus Christ, John! Of course, I want you to move in! It will be great. We have a room full of boxes and stuff, we can clean that out and move your stuff. It's not that big and the only extra room we’ve got, so I'm afraid you’ll have to keep your easel and paints in there. But that’s not a big problem, I hope, -” Alex talked on, and on, and on, and on, and John couldn’t stop smiling. _Finally_ life was giving him something back. “Oh!” Alex suddenly interrupted himself. “You know what this means right? The party on Friday, it will be your first college party!”

“Alex, I'm not even in college yet.” John chuckled.

“The same.” John could practically see Alex waving his hand dismissively and the way he wrinkled his nose. “Wow John. This is really happening. We’re gonna go to the same college. Study together. Move in together. We’re really gonna have the time of our life,” Alex said with wonder.

“Let’s take it one thing at a time.” It wasn’t because John wasn’t thrilled, he was beyond that. He was afraid, that if he thought too much about all of it at once, he was going to explode. 

“Yes, right, sorry,” Alex mumbled. “But you know… It is gonna be pretty great.”

“Yeah, it's gonna be pretty great.” John smiled. “When can I see you again?”

“I don’t know, I’m gonna be pretty busy now. I’m tired. So, probably not before Friday and after that, I will be even more busy with finals. College sucks, I don’t know why you would want to go here.” John laughed.

“Well, I’m looking forward to Friday then.”

“Okay,” Alex said softly.

“Okay.” They stayed on the line in silence for a couple of seconds, none of them wanting to hang up.

“I’m gonna miss youuu,” Alex said.

“I’ll miss you too.”

“But I really have to go now.”

“I’ll see you then,” John said, thinking the conversation ended far too quickly.

“Bye.”

“Bye.” And Alex hung up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the short chapter. This story is slowly coming to an end! Two or three chapters to go, wow...


End file.
